Maryland State Police said Thursday that a man who attacked a speed camera vehicle may have parked in a lot that serves several nearby businesses and walked through the woods to where the vehicle was stationed on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
Police issued an updated description of the man, now saying he is thought to be white, about 6-feet tall and between 200-220 pounds, “possibly with a pot belly.”
They say he was wearing blue jeans and a red and blue plaid shirt initially reported as flannel but later described as possibly flannel.
State police say the man is thought to be in his 50s or 60s, to be wearing clear glasses and possibly carrying a black backpack.
The man walked out of the woods at about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday with a weapon in each hand and approached the speed camera vehicle parked on the southbound side of the parkway, police said. The man rapped on the back window with a shotgun before coming to the driver’s side window to yell at the driver, who was operating a camera enforcing speed limits in a construction zone. The man smashed a hammer on the windshield, leaving large cracks, before disappearing back into the woods the way he came, police said.
“State Police investigators believe that after the incident, the suspect walked back through the woods to a parking lot in the 1300 block of Concourse Road, where a number of businesses are located. It is possible he entered a vehicle parked in the lot and left the area,” police said in a news release.
Fearing an armed man on the loose, state troopers and Anne Arundel County Police quickly shut down a stretch of the parkway while about 50 law enforcement personnel conducted a search for the suspect using helicopters, dogs and officers with heavy weaponry. The area was closed down for more than three hours, resulting in massive traffic delays.
Police are asking anyone who works in the area and may have been there between 11 a.m. and noon Wednesday to contact them at 410/761-5130.
Authorities also said they think some motorists might have seen the man, since traffic slowed in the area during his attack on the speed camera vehicle, and are urging anyone with information to contact them.
• Matthew Cella can be reached at mcella@washingtontimes.com.
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