This story is still developing, but apparently a man dressed in a panda suit went into the offices of the local Fox affiliate in Baltimore, dropped off a thumb drive, and caused the entire building to be evacuated due to a bomb threat.
WBAL-TV 11 News learned that a man dressed in a onesie with a surgical mask and sunglasses covering his face entered the TV station's front entrance. The man tried to give employees a flash drive, saying something about what's going on in the news and saying that he needs his video shown.
A security officer thought the situation was suspicious, so he alerted employees to evacuate and called authorities, 11 News' Lacee Griffith reported.
Officials said a vehicle was set on fire in parking lot of the station. A rag that was set on fire was placed into the gas tank, police said. There is no explosive device within the car, and it's likely not a coincidence, police said.
The man left the building and wouldn't take hands out of pockets, police said. The man has some type of device in his hand, so a counter-sniper shot him, police said.
There is no confirmation on whether there is an actual explosive device so police said they are taking the situation very seriously.
Police officials said, "We can't tell you right now if it's an explosive device, but it looks like it."
SWAT officers responded to the scene and a short time later, the man was shot, the I-Team has learned. He has not yet been identified but is described as a white man believed to be in his early 20s.
Here are some tweets from a WBAL-TV reporter:
Earlier photo by @wbaltv11 photog of bomb threat suspect before he removed his vest pic.twitter.com/SsJQ37RTSs
— Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) April 28, 2016
Man at Fox 45 has been removed by bomb squad in armored vehicle...did not appear to be moving pic.twitter.com/ZbG9WgNGrK
— Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) April 28, 2016
Bomb squad now removing clothing of man outside Fox 45 pic.twitter.com/sNucoqJ2V6
— Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) April 28, 2016
Man unfastened vest himself. 2nd robot now there pic.twitter.com/wvDGC17Akn
— Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) April 28, 2016
Robot has removed "onesie" from man shot by police outside Fox 45. Still appears to be moving pic.twitter.com/zJQFa3HtIO
— Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) April 28, 2016
I'll update this post with any details I'm able to find.
Update:
Okay, this is weird.
BPD says bomb threat suspect is 25 yr old white male from Howard Co..confirms red vest was packed w/ choc candy bars wired together
— Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) April 28, 2016
Update 2:
Bomb threat suspect taken to shock trauma..still alive
— Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) April 28, 2016
Candy bar bomb replica vest also had motherboard according to BPD. Suspect had flash drive in hand with info he wanted to get on TV.
— Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) April 28, 2016
Recap: 25 y/o wearing panda suit & red vest packed with wired candy bars threatens a Balto TV station to air info..shot & wounded by police
— Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) April 28, 2016
