After an armed carjacking in Federal Hill, Baltimore police used recent trends to predict — correctly — that the suspects would head south to Cherry Hill.

But as two detectives spotted the stolen Honda CRV in the neighborhood and prepared to make an arrest, one of them accidentally shot himself in the wrist, and the suspects escaped, reports the Baltimore Sun .

What was almost a policing success — a victory based on good intelligence and crime analysis —slipped away.

The events of late Wednesday were described by police on Thursday afternoon to correct an earlier version of what happened provided shortly after the incident. Police previously said that the detective was shot by a fleeing suspect and that the detectives had not fired their guns.

"It did not take very long for investigators to begin to gather enough physical evidence to suspect that, in fact, it was an accidental discharge versus gunfire by a suspect," said Deputy Commissioner Jason Johnson. "However, we really wanted to be cautious and make sure that we gathered sufficient evidence before we made a public announcement."

The shooting, during which other officers applied a tourniquet to stanch the wounded detective's bleeding, will be investigated by the department's Special Investigations Response Team. The detective, who is in good condition, will receive additional training before returning to duty, Johnson said.