Video shows Baltimore cops shooting machete-wielding man

Newly released body cam video captured Baltimore police shooting a man charging at them with a machete and throwing a knife after he entered a convenience store naked.

Cops responding to a report of a burglary at about 9:15 a.m. on Dec. 30 encountered a naked man wearing only socks standing on the corner in the 2000 block of West Street, the Baltimore Banner reported.

Security camera footage shows the unclothed man, later identified as 37-year-old Russom Gebretsadik, outside a convenience store and then walking inside, where an employee told police that the still-nude man then went upstairs.

Body cam video released last week shows police looking for the man, whom they spot on a staircase in the back of the building.

“What were you doing naked, man,” an officer asks the suspect, who by now is clothed and feigns ignorance.

“You going to play with me, bro?” the cops asks.

A few seconds later, the man throws an item at the officers and they back away to call for reinforcements with ballistic shields.

One officer thinks that the suspect flung feces their way, but later in the video they are heard saying they believe it was food.

The footage shows cops moving through several rooms before a door opens and an officer with a shield — identified as James Stokes, a nine-year veteran of the department — moves to the front.

Gebretsadik “emerged from behind a door” and began “advancing” toward the officers, who saw he had a combat knife and a machete, a police spokesman said.

Stokes is seen either being pushed back or falling down as he shoots five times at Gebretsadik, hitting him once in the leg, after the man threw a knife at police.

The officer is seen climbing up the stairs and handcuffing the suspect as he sits on the floor.

Police Commissioner Richard Worley told reporters that officers applied a tourniquet to Gebretsadik’s leg, “possibly saving his life.”

No officers were seriously hurt in the incident.

The top cop added that police also found “devices” in the room Gebretsadik was in. The items were investigated by the police bomb squad and the Baltimore Fire Department.

No explosives were recovered from the building, a police spokesman said, but several items were found, including a lighter fluid bottle with liquid, a gas can with liquid, an oil jug with liquid, two motors, a lighter, a gas can spout and two circuit boards.

Authorities have not identified the liquid.

Gebretsadik has been released from a hospital and charged with attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and related charges.

His trial is scheduled to begin Monday.

It was unclear if Gebretsadik was the burglary suspect police were initially called for, although court records show his home address being where the shooting took place, WMAR reported.