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Police Shoot Man In Panda Suit After Bomb Threat To Baltimore TV Station (Updated)

Suicide by cop? Or something else?

By Karoli Kuns
04/28/16 01:47 pm

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:

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:

I'll update this post with any details I'm able to find.

Update:

Okay, this is weird.

Update 2:
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