A man wearing a panda outfit laced with a device thought to
be an explosive was shot by Baltimore police Thursday afternoon when he
exited a local TV station's facilities, where he told employees he had
important information to share, the Baltimore Sun reported.
The man reportedly suffered non-life-threatening injuries after he
failed to comply with police orders upon walking out of the building.
The apparent bomb threat turned out to be not credible, but
because the suspect -- who was also wearing what appeared to be a
surgical mask over his face -- ignored police orders, law enforcement
shot him. The video of the shooting showed the suspect kept walking
after being hit by multiple police bullets. The building was evacuated
and there were no immediate reports of any other injuries.
Watch the fateful scene unfold below.
A
man, claiming to have a bomb, lies in the street outside of the Fox 45
television station, which was evacuated due to a bomb threat, in
Baltimore, Maryland, April 28, 2016.
Photo: REUTERS/Bryan Woolston
The shooting took place right outside of the Fox 45 TV news station's
offices, shortly after the suspect, who could be seen waiting inside of
the building's vestibule, walked out after having spent some time
inside, where he gave a security guard a flash drive. The contents of
the flash drive were immediately unclear, but there has been speculation
the suspect said it had something to do with the so-called Panama
Papers, according to the TV station's news director.“Someone came into the front of the building and they apparently said that they had some information they wanted to get on the air,” the Washington Post reported Mike Tomko said. “I came down at one point not knowing the person was in the lobby, near the vestibule area. He talked to me and was wearing what appears to be a full body white panda suit, surgical mask and sunglasses. He had a flash drive, said he had information he wanted to get on the air. He compared it to the information found in the Panama Papers. I told him, ‘I can’t let you in, you’re going to have to leave the flash drive here and slide it through the opening.’ He wouldn’t do that. Apparently he had made some threats before.”
The device that had been identified as a possible explosive may have not been a bomb at all, according to a tweet from a local news reporter.
The episode followed a vehicle nearby being set on
fire from igniting a rag that was positioned inside the gas tank. The
shooting also came one day after Baltimore police shot a 13-year-old boy
who was wielding a B.B. gun. That shooting took place on the one-year
anniversary of the riots that broke out across the city following the
funeral of Freddie Gray, the African-American man who sustained a fatal
spinal injury in the back of a police transport vehicle after being
arrested for having a small knife, which is not a crime in the city.
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