Air Force Veteran Carjacked In NW Baltimore; 3 Alleged Suspects Killed After Crashing Car Into MTA Bus
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Three people were killed in a crash overnight that police now say happened during a carjacking in northwest Baltimore.
Officers got a call about a carjacking involving a white BMW at around 9:41 p.m. Wednesday night. Detectives found the vehicle in the Northwest District. They called for marked police units to stop the vehicle.
The person driving the BMW accelerated once he saw police and turned onto Wabash Avenue, driving up the 5200 block. An MTA bus driver told investigators the BMW was driving "at a high rate of speed" and struck the bus as it was turning onto Eldorado Avenue from Wabash Avenue.
When officers arrived on the scene, they saw an MTA bus and a BMW with three seriously injured males.
The three people in the BMW were taken to area hospitals and pronounced dead shortly after they arrived. The MTA bus driver was not injured.
WJZ's Rachael Cardin spoke exclusively with Gregory Spells, an Air Force veteran suffering from PTSD whose BMW was carjacked. He said he was held at gunpoint, asked to drive around, then someone allegedly choked him until he gave up his keys and everything in his car.
"The guy in the back put me in a chokehold, another guy went through my pockets (and) the third suspect got out of the car and had me at gunpoint (and demanded) I give them the keys and everything else," Spells said.
He said he still has pain in his neck from where he was choked.
"The most disheartening part of the whole situation was being choked out, he said.
When Spells went to make a police report, he found out officers were already tracking the car.
He told WJZ he had gotten the BMW last year, calling it his escape. It was also the way he provided for his family, he said.
Now, he's not sure what he's going to do.
"That vehicle came at the cost of my leg that I injured in the military," he said. "I obtained that vehicle through veteran compensation."
Despite the trio allegedly taking the car, Spells said he's sad for their families who are now mourning their deaths.
"I feel very bad for their families. A vehicle can always be replaced but life can't," he said.
Spells was supposed to attend his uncle's funeral Thursday morning.
"I had my vehicle prepared to go to the funeral with my family," he said, "and instead these guys drove the car to their own funeral."
People in the area said they heard the crash and sirens. Drivers often speed on that strip of road, they said.
Anyone who witnessed this incident or has information about the incident is asked to call Crash Team Investigators at (410) 396-2606 or call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7lockup.
