Crime & Safety

Elkridge Man Dies Week After Being Shot by Police

Jeffrey Dustin Nichols, 19, died after a standoff with police near Hi Tech Drive. Police found he was carrying a pellet gun.

One week after , which turned out to be a pellet gun, the 19-year-old from Elkridge has died.

Jeffrey Dustin Nichols, of Grouse Road in Elkridge, died Monday morning.

"We were notified this morning that he died," said Sherry Llewellyn, spokeswoman for the Howard County Police Department.

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Nichols had been at University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center since last week undergoing multiple surgeries, according to friend Sarah P., who told Elkridge Patch he died shortly after 3 a.m. on Monday.

According to the Howard County Police Department (HCPD), Nichols was shot a total of eight times in his torso and extremities for refusing to drop a weapon in a confrontation behind a warehouse on Hi Tech at Coca Cola Drive on Nov. 7.

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"Investigators have determined [Nichols'] weapon was a pellet gun designed to look like a real, semi-automatic handgun," said HCPD in a statement at the time.

Seven police officers involved in the incident are on paid administrative leave as the department investigates the incident, according to officials.


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