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DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. (AP) — Two Maryland police officers were shot while serving a drug-related search warrant at the wrong apartment late Wednesday, according to law enforcement officials.
The resident shot the officers as soon as they opened the door, thinking they were home invaders, authorities said. No criminal charges will be filed against the man, Prince George's County Police Chief Hank Stawinski said Thursday.
Stawinski apologized for the error and said he has halted executing search warrants until the department reviews its procedures, news outlets reported.
"The individual that we are targeting does not live at that address ... a law-abiding, hard-working citizen of Prince George's County and his daughter were home at the point where we were executing that search warrant," Stawinski said.
Both Prince George's County Police Department officers were flown to a Baltimore shock trauma center with injuries that did not appear to be life threatening, department spokeswoman Jennifer Donelan told reporters early Thursday. As of Thursday afternoon, one officer has been released from the hospital. The other remained hospitalized to undergo surgery on an arm.
The shooting occurred around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday as several officers were executing a search warrant at an apartment building in a suburb of Washington, D.C. After getting no response to knocks on an apartment door, officers used a device to open it, Donelan said. The resident fired a shotgun blast at officers, wounding one in the hand and the other in the shoulder, she added.
Once the man realized he had fired upon officers, he immediately surrendered, Stawinski said.
Another officer fired one shot at the man but didn't hit him.
The father and his daughter had fallen asleep in front of the television and did not hear police announce themselves, Stawinski said.
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