Man Yelling 'I Am God' Rams Truck Into Baltimore News Station Building
A man claiming to be God has been charged with three counts of second-degree attempted murder after ramming a truck into a Baltimore, Maryland, TV station Tuesday.
Witness accounts and surveillance video show Vladimir Baptiste, a 28-year-old from Parkville, banging on the WMAR-TV building's security doors at around noon on Tuesday, demanding to be let in to the local media station. As employees began calling 911 regarding the disturbance, Baptiste allegedly rammed an F-550 truck, used for gardening, that he stole into the front of the building, breaking through the first set of security doors.
As most of the employees fled the building, Baptiste allegedly ran up to the building's second floor, where the editing room is located, and barricaded himself in the room for nearly five hours until authorities used a flash bomb and a search dog to recover the suspect.
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Michael Marion, WMAR-TV's head of commercial production, told the Associated Press that he heard the security guard arguing with a man who was banging on the station's glass doors and proclaiming "I am God, I am God."
When the security guard refused to admit Baptiste, Marion says he "heard a series of crashes."
"The next thing, I looked in the lobby, and the only thing between truck and the lobby was the final door. I heard one final crash. I looked through the door, and by then the truck was in the lobby."
Baptiste had reportedly been watching live reports about him on the television from inside the WMAR-TV building, and even tweeted about his situation, an act that helped police determine who was hiding inside the news station.
Baptiste's tweets were largely incoherent and scattered, with one reading "YOU DONT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ME RIGHT NOW, THE PEOPLE YOU ALL HAVE HURT ARE GOING TO DEAL WITH YOU! WATCH," and another one saying "chillin @ abc2 news waiting and yawning."
After police finally reached Baptiste, the suspect was taken to a local hospital for a mental evaluation. "From the beginning it was clear we were dealing with an emotionally disturbed subject," Police Chief James Johnson said, adding that the suspect was "ranting and raving" when authorities discovered him.
Baptiste is being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center on $750,000 bail. His mother, Merizia Saindor Baptiste, told ABC2 that her son, one of six children, has struggled with drug abuse since he was 21. It is unclear if Baptiste's actions on Tuesday were related to drugs.
"I heard that on the TV, but I didn't know … Vladimir would be able to do that and I was shocked," Baptiste's mother told ABC2.
