Escaped Steer Shot Dead in the Middle of Baltimore
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.
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.
Only in Baltimore do you see a cow on North ave 😂 pic.twitter.com/rhHs1wtWLW
— India Ivery (@_indianstyle) June 13, 2014
You gotta love Baltimore. Stay away from North Ave right now tho pic.twitter.com/WUEUdRz0qD
— Dino Hatfield (@BALTsneakerShow) June 13, 2014
Police shot a cow in Mt Vernon pic.twitter.com/kEOAjmNr84
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) June 13, 2014
The bull shot by police is attracting a crowd pic.twitter.com/q19GunB7LJ
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) June 13, 2014
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."