Officers Removed from Duty After Police-Involved Shootings

PALMER PARK, Md. (AP) - Two Prince George's County police officers shot and killed a shoplifting suspect, another officer accidentally shot his own mother, and a third officer shot a man in a grocery store - all within a few hours Sunday and Monday, police said.

Police have not released the name of the other officers who shot the shoplifting suspect Monday morning in Capitol Heights or the name of the man who was shot. After responding to a report that the man was shoplifting and carrying a gun at a Shopper's Food Warehouse in Capitol Heights, the officers chased the man and shot him after he pulled a gun on them, police said.

Police have identified the officer who shot a man Sunday at a Shopper's Food Warehouse in Clinton as officer Curtis Gouldin, a two-year veteran of the force. Gouldin was patrolling the store just before midnight was told that there had been a shooting in the parking lot. A man who witnesses said was involved in the shooting began running toward Gouldin, ignoring orders to stop and show his hands, police said. Gouldin shot the man in the wrist, and the man was treated at a hospital. The suspect's name has not been released.

The first shooting involving police was at about 3 p.m. Sunday, when Officer David Cheatham shot a person he believed to be an intruder at his Kentland home, police said. It turned out to be his mother. She was not seriously wounded and is expected to recover.

All three officers were removed from street duty pending police investigations.

"We know it's unusual that we've had three shootings in the past two days," police spokeswoman Cpl. Diane Richardson said Monday. "These officers were in fear. Each case is different. And in each case that happened over this weekend, the officers were in fear for their own safety."

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)