West Palm Beach police officer shoots suspect during altercation

A young male was shot once in the stomach this afternoon by a West Palm Beach police officer, making it the eighth officer-involved shooting in Palm Beach County this year and the second in West Palm Beach.

The shooting took place around 1:30 p.m. in the Woodstock Apartments in the 1800 block of North Congress Avenue, said Allen Ortman, a West Palm Beach Police Department spokesman.

The officer was responding to a call about a suspicious person in the neighborhood, Ortman said. When the officer arrived, the young man tried to flee. Ortman said the man and the officer got into an altercation moments before the officer shot the man.

The suspect, whom Ortman said was in his 20s, was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach. His condition wasn’t known. Ortman said the officer wasn’t hurt.

The county has had seven officer-involved fatal shootings this year, doubling the total for all of 2011.

Sunday’s shooting was the second involving the West Palm Beach Police Department this year. In March, a West Palm Beach police officer fatally shot Marcus Neloms III after the 28-year-old shot an officer in the shoulder at Sprinbrook Commons.