Baltimore police called to de-escalate mental health crisis before deadly shooting, neighbors say

By Stephon Dingle

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    BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A mother called police to de-escalate a mental health episode before her son was shot and killed by Baltimore County officers in Dundalk on Sunday, according to neighbors.

Glenn Pettie, who is in his 40s, died after an armed altercation with officers in the 8200 block of N. Boundary Road, police said.

“They knocked on her door, they knew he had mental health issues, so one cop gets out, knocks on the door, and the other cop sits in his car,” said a neighbor. “Then the one cop gets on his radio and told the other cop he’s going to walk around back.”

Neighbors told WJZ that Pettie was near his back door, and then they heard gunfire. They said Pettie’s grandmother and 20-year-old son were pleading with the officers to stop shooting.

The Independent Investigations Division of the Maryland Office of the Attorney General revealed that the man and an officer exchanged gunfire, and the man was shot. Pettie was pronounced dead at the hospital.

A loaded handgun was found near Pettie, according to investigators.

“We just heard, ‘bang, bang, bang,’ and my friend, he usually walks up and down the street, he was sitting on the brick wall, and he says, ‘Did you hear that?'” said Russell Hayes, a neighbor.

The investigation is being handled by the IID. Two officers have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

This was the fifth police shooting in Baltimore County in 2025, according to Police Chief Robert McCullough.

“The thing I want to point out is the danger of the number of handguns that are on the street, the number of handguns that our officers are encountering,” McCullough said. “More and more people are armed with handguns or armed with a knife.”

“They could have done it a different way”

Neighbors told WJZ they didn’t anticipate the call for help would end with a man fatally shot.

“This area is usually a pretty good area,” said Hayes. “We don’t usually have crime. The neighbors get along good.”

Neighbors and the family acknowledge Pettie’s mental health issues. He made a social media post on Sunday before he was killed that said, in part, “I’m tired of no sleep…this town has gobbled me up and showed no love for me and mine.”

After his death, Pettie’s friends commented, saying things like, “Glenn was a nice guy” and “You clearly needed help and you were asking for it… I’m sorry.”

Pettie’s neighbor, who knew him for 10 years, said the deadly shooting should have ended differently.

“Even when he was going through his mental health crisis, we would talk to him, I would talk to him,” a neighbor said. “He would say, ‘You are my Libra friend,’ and he always smiled and talked to me. I was always able to calm him down and talk to him. They could have done it a different way.”

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