BALTIMORE (AP) - Authorities say the "bomb" a man claimed to be wearing when he walked into a television station wearing an animal costume was in reality a red flotation device stuffed with chocolate candy bars wrapped in aluminum foil.
Baltimore Police Department spokesman T.J. Smith said a police sniper shot the man Thursday after he refused to put his hands up. Smith said that after a robot removed the suspicious garment, the man was taken to a local hospital, where he was in serious but stable condition.
Smith says the man walked into the lobby of WBFF-TV on Baltimore's Television Hill about 1:20 p.m. wearing a panda costume, the red garment, and a surgical mask.
He says the man gave a flash drive to a security guard and said he wanted the station to broadcast it. Smith does not know what was on the flash drive.
Smith described the suspect as a 25-year-old white male from Howard County. He says he will not be identified until he is charged.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgsVK5Vo6AI
