Fox 5 DC Security Guard Shoots Suspect Trying To Enter TV Station
WASHINGTON (WJZ) -- Shots were fired outside a Fox station in Washington D.C. Monday afternoon after a man tried to break into the TV station.
The shooting occurred along Wisconsin Avenue in Friendship Heights just after 3 p.m.
DC police said the female security guard fired her gun as the 38-year-old man after he tried to kick his way into the building, smashing through the glass front door.
The man was not armed, police said.
He was shot in his upper torso and was taken to George Washington Hospital for treatment. The suspect is still alive.
Police have identified the man, and FOX5DC reporters, say the suspect has been identified as George Odemns, a resident of NW DC.
The station is not under lockdown and there is no longer a threat.
The channel broadcast security camera footage showing a man in a red, hooded sweatshirt kicking through the doors. It also showed footage of the still-conscious man being loaded into an ambulance.
The building in question contains several different offices, but the lobby the man entered is only for the Fox station.
Gov. Larry Hogan said he's keeping the news station's employees in his thoughts.
Police say the intruder was known to FOX executives and the police before this incident occurred. The station later revealed Odemns is no stranger to the organization. He allegedly had sent emails to on-and-off air workers at Fox5.
The Washington Post reports that the suspect filed a lawsuit in 2014 claiming the station was controlling him via a nano-chip.
According to Fox5, police sources believe the man has mental health problems.
The security breach is one of the latest in recent years to affect an area TV station.
In 2014, a suspect rammed a truck into the front door at WMAR-TV.
Witnesses said he was screaming that he was God. Dozens of workers were evacuated, but no one was hurt.
Police eventually took him into custody.
Then in April 2016, a man in a hedgehog suit who claimed he had a bomb walked into Fox45 in Baltimore and demanded that the station air material he had on a thumb drive.
The fake bomb was actually candy bars. Police shot the suspect and took him into custody.
After this intrusion Monday, no Fox5 employees were hurt.
Police said the suspect in Monday's incident did not have a weapon. Many of the workers
This story is developing. Stay with WJZ for the latest.
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