A TV station in Baltimore dealt with a worse-case scenario on Thursday when a man allegedly caught his own car on fire outside of WBFF and tried to force his way into the station with a flash drive and what looked to be a bomb vest. The man—a person said to be in his twenties—also bombarded the building wearing a panda suit and sunglasses. More on the most absurd news story you’ll read today, below.
At around 1:20 p.m. on Thursday, a man dressed in a panda suit allegedly broke into the WBFF Baltimore TV station. Along with the panda suit, he was wearing a variety of wires. The Baltimore Police Department says that witnesses on the scene saw what looked to be a bomb protruding from his “onesie.” The man set his sites on WBFF after setting his own vehicle on fire in the parking lot outside of the TV station. He then proceeded into the building where he was stopped in the lobby by security. That’s when he threatened to blow things up. As the device seemed like a bomb, the building was evacuated and the suspect barricaded himself inside. He later left the building, where he was apprehended by police. They asked him to take his hands out of his pockets, and when he didn’t comply, they shot him.
Later on Thursday, Fox 45 out of Baltimore reported that a man, Edward Brizzi, came forward and identified the potential bomber as his son Alex Brizzi. The father says the young man had to undergo surgery for a bullet wound that pierced his neck. Medics could not help the young man on the scene right after he had been shot, because unfortunately he was still refusing to take his hands out of the pocket of his panda suit.
You can see video footage of the potential bomber thanks to Fox 45 reporter Shelly Orman, below.
The good news? The device was a ruse and not actually a bomb. The bad news? The young man was shot for trying to make it seem like he was bringing terror to the TV Station. We currently do not know exactly what the young man was trying to do at the TV station, but New Director Mike Tomko says the young man was coherent-ish when he came in and wanted to put the information on the hard drive onto the air. When Tomko didn't comply, he began to make threats.
Our thoughts go out to everyone at the news station at the time, although we are thankful that no one at the TV station ended up getting hurt. The man in the panda suit is expected to recover, as well. We'll let you know if there are any other updates.
