Baltimore Police fatally shot a 70-year-old woman who lunged at them during a mental health call Wednesday inside a residence in West Baltimore, Commissioner Richard Worley said during a media briefing at the scene.

The shooting, the second by police in West Baltimore in a little more than a week, took place in the 2700 block of Mosher Street in the neighborhood of Mosher.

Police and fire officials responded to two calls for service just after 2:30 p.m. and were informed that a woman inside needed assistance and might be experiencing a behavioral health crisis, Worley said.

For her safety, officers were attempting to get her into custody and get her to a hospital for treatment, Worley said.

When officers breached the door, they observed the woman holding a knife, the commissioner said. The officers told her several times to drop the knife, but she did not do so, he said.

When she lunged toward officers with knife in hand, they attempted to subdue her with a Taser, but it was ineffective, Worley said. The woman continued to lunge forward, and officers continued to give verbal commands in an attempt to deescalate the situation and exit the house, the commissioner said.

But after an officer fell over a chair to the floor, she lunged at him with the knife and a second officer behind that one who fell fired, striking her, Worley said. The department does not know how many shots were fired, he added.

The woman was taken to a hospital, where she was declared dead, Worley said.

Police said people in the area have made 26 calls regarding the woman “for a multitude of different things” since the beginning of the year.

“I think this is a nationwide crisis, and unfortunately too many of them end up with use of force,” Worley said about behavioral health issues.

The only injured officer was the one who fell over the chair, Worley said. He was taken to a hospital with a back injury. His condition is not known, but his injuries are not believed to be serious.

The Maryland Attorney General’s Office Independent Investigations Division was at the scene.

The shooting follows a deadly exchange involving police just over a week ago that shook communities in West Baltimore after authorities fatally shot a former arabber outside the Upton subway station. On Monday, police released body camera footage showing Bilal Abdullah reaching for a firearm and apparently firing it as a pursuing officer began to tackle the 36-year-old. Three officers then fired a total of 38 rounds at Abdullah, who died later that night. One officer was shot in the foot.

Both police shootings came amid rising temperatures and an ensuing increase in 911 calls, which researchers said could correspond to more frequent police shootings. Leaders suggested that an ongoing heat wave could have played a role in a pair of quadruple shootings that broke out Monday evening. Temperatures were expected to reach a high of 98 on Wednesday in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

Worley said Wednesday that the department has done an “excellent job” training officers in deescalating situations, but some community advocates disagree. At a recent meeting of Baltimore City’s Police Accountability Board, the board’s co-chair Joshua Harris remarked on what he believed was BPD officers’ “inability” to deescalate situations with armed suspects.

Marvin Cheatham, a longtime West Baltimore resident and community advocate told The Baltimore Sun on Wednesday that despite the friction between his neighbors and the police, he still tries to stress that the police are there to help.

“But we still have a lot of work to do,” Cheatham said, “and (BPD) has failed in bringing police and the community together.”

Frank Gluck contributed to this article.

Contact Mathew Schumer at mschumer@baltsun.com, 443-890-7423 and on X as @mmmschumer. Contact Dan Belson at dbelson@baltsun.com, on X as @DanBelson_ or on Signal as @danbels.62.