Sad news out of Maryland: This morning, a bull escaped from...somewhere and took off running through the middle Baltimore, where police eventually shot him dead.

From the Baltimore Sun:

Pictures and video posted on social media showed the bull trotting eastbound in the North Avenue median near Linden Avenue. The bull made it near the intersection of North Charles and Preston streets before it was shot by police officers. A throng of gawkers emerged to see the felled animal.

There was no immediate word on where the bull came from.

We'll update as more information becomes available.

UPDATE 3:41 pm: It was a steer, not a bull. From the Baltimore Sun:

A 780-pound steer headed for slaughter in West Baltimore seized a chance at freedom, leaping a barbed-wire fence and taking a brisk two-mile walk along North Avenue that ended when it was gunned down by the police in Mid-Town.

The bovine was first spotted around 10:15 a.m., according to police, after escaping from George G. Ruppersberger & Sons Inc. on Pennsylvania Avenue, the oldest slaughterhouse in the city.

...

William Whitfield, wearing a T-shirt smeared thick with blood and spattered mesh hat, said he was working when it happened. The abattoir had received 20 steers, 10 cows and one bull that morning, he said.

Two steers got loose, but only one was able to jump a fence.

"He hit Woodbrook [Street], then Francis Street, and head on out," Whitfield said. "He got full speed."

[Image via MSU Followers]