Man shot by officer outside of Howard County store

Howard County police say they shot a man brandishing a knife in a Columbia store.

The shooting occurred on Wednesday at 11 a.m. inside of a BJ’s Wholesale Club store. Police say the man was approached in the store for shoplifting; the man threatened them with a knife.

Officers say the man ran from the store and smashed in the glass window of a bus with a stick. When the bus would not let him on, the man ran back into the store where he was confronted by police and shot.

Thirty-three-year-old Howard Smith of Columbia is in critical condition at Shock Trauma in Baltimore.