BW Parkway still shut and police hunt man who attacked worker with hammer
An update from Sun reporters Mike Dresser and Julie Baughman on the scene unfolding on the Baltimore Washington Parkway near BWI (police now say no gunshots fired (picture of closed Parkway by The Sun's Jed Kirschbaum):
A man with a hammer and a gun attacked a speed enforcement vehicle on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway near the exit leading to BWI Marshall airport this morning, prompting police to close down all lanes of the highway, according to law enforcement authorities.
While the assailant was armed, police disputed early reports of gunfire.
Maryland State Police spokesman Gregory M. Shipley said the attack occurred about 11:30 a.m. in the southbound lanes near I-195. He said an older man came out of the woods and approached a parked State Highway Administration Jeep being operated by a speed enforcement contractor. Shipley said the man tapped on the rear window with a hammer before yelling incoherently and then striking the windshield with the hammer.
More details:
After breaking the windshield, the man left the scene. Shipley described the suspect as white, about 65 years old, with white hair, standing 5-foot-8 and weighing 150 pounds. He said the man was wearing a black and red shirt, possibly flannel, and blue jeans. Police were still hunting for the man about 2 p.m., and the parkway remained shut down.
A state police helicopter was flying above the scene, the officer said. The parkway, also known as Maryland 295, was clear of all but police vehicles in the vicinity of the incident.
All overpasses on the parkway in the vicinity were blocked by police. In one case, a jogger trying to run on one of the overpasses was put in a police car and driven across the highway. Armed law enforcement officers ringed the Embassy Suites hotel near the interchange, where police we setting up their command post.
Julie Meddows, 37, an employee at the Westin Hotel near the command post, said she went out to develop some photos but ran into a police blockade when she returned to work. As she stood with co-workers by the side of Winterson Road, she said she was worried when she heard the news.
Meddows, who said she works in social media, was eager to get on Twitter to pass on news of the incident.
“I need to be tweeting about this,” she said. “We want our guest to be sure they’re safe inside the hotel.”
State Highway Administration officials say all lanes are closed in both directions on the parkway. Spokesman Charlie Gischlar said traffic to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport had been disrupted, with northbound traffic blocked at Route 100 and southbound traffic diverted at West Nursery Road.
He urged motorists heading to BWI to avoid the parkway and use alternate routes. He suggested the best course for people trying to reach the airport is to use Interstate 97 to Dorsey Road to the Airport Loop.
State highway officials said ramps from the Beltway to the parkway were closed as well. Gischlar said I-195 was not closed but is backed up.
