Maryland Bar Security Guard Fatally Shoots Man Police Say Pulled a Knife During 12:45 A.M. Argument

By Luke McCoy • Published November 5, 2026

Key Takeaways

A security guard at the Crackpot Bar in Towson fatally shot a man who pulled a knife during an argument around 12:45 a.m. Sunday.
The shooting happened inside the bar on Loch Raven Boulevard, and a woman inside was also injured and taken to a hospital.
The guard remained at the scene and is cooperating with the investigation, which police described as an isolated incident.
Police have not yet released the names of the guard or the man who died, and no charging decision has been announced.

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

TOWSON, MD — A security guard working at a Towson bar shot and killed a man who pulled a knife during an argument inside the business early Sunday, Oct. 25, according to Baltimore County Police.

Police said the shooting happened around 12:45 a.m. at the Crackpot Bar in the 8100 block of Loch Raven Boulevard, as reported by FOX45 News. A woman who was inside the bar was also injured and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

According to police, an argument broke out inside the bar. An adult man pulled out a knife. The security guard shot him. He died at the scene.

The guard stayed at the scene and is cooperating with the investigation, police said. Investigators described the shooting as an isolated event and said there is no ongoing danger to the community.

Police have not yet provided a full account of the moments leading up to the shooting. The reports do not say who the knife was pointed at, how close the man was to the guard or anyone else, or how the woman was hurt. Neither the guard nor the man who died has been publicly identified.

Those missing details are what decide a case like this. Deadly force is justified only against an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm. A knife coming out during an argument in a bar can be exactly that. Whether it was here depends on distance, movement, and who was in danger, and none of that is public yet. Prosecutors will make the final call, and no charging decision has been announced.

Not everyone nearby is convinced. Michael Jones, who lives near the bar and says he enjoys the restaurant, told FOX45 he wondered whether it could have ended differently. “You should be able to talk to somebody, de-escalate the situation and go from there,” he said. “If somebody came in there with a knife, why aren’t you searching people?” He added, “I blame security and also blame the lack of training and professionalism.”

Jones is reacting before police have laid out what actually happened inside, and nobody outside that room knows yet what the guard saw. Faulting the door for not searching people also misses the law. Nothing in Maryland’s dangerous-weapon statute, Criminal Law § 4-101, bars knives from bars or restaurants. The statute prohibits carrying a dangerous weapon concealed and carrying one openly with the intent to injure someone unlawfully. It specifically excludes a penknife without a switchblade.

More from USA Carry:

This is a neighborhood bar and restaurant, not a stadium with metal detectors at the gate. For a guard in a place like this, the job runs on mindset far more than hardware. That means reading the room and separating people before an argument turns physical. Once a knife is already out, that window has closed.

The bar was closed when FOX45 crews visited afterward. Investigators are still working to determine exactly what happened inside.

Read the original story: Maryland Bar Security Guard Fatally Shoots Man Police Say Pulled a Knife During 12:45 A.M. Argument