UPDATE: The suspect has been named as George Odemns, 38; police say he is of no fixed address.
It’s been a while since I graced the doors of WTTG-TV located at 5151 Wisconsin Avenue, NW in the District of Columbia. Back in the day, it was owned by Metromedia rather than FOX, and the political climate was not nearly as hot as it is today. Still, there was plenty of security in place. The doors were locked, and you had to use an ID badge to buzz yourself into the building.
LN Editor-in-Chief Leesa K. Donner back when she worked at FOX-5
At 3 p.m. today a man wearing a red hooded sweatshirt walked up to the front door of this building and entered the vestibule. Then he turned around, kicked in the plexiglass on a second door, and climbed through the broken door into the lobby.
Naturally, the security guard was taken aback by the man’s actions. Reports at this hour are sketchy as to what exactly transpired verbally, but at one point the guard opened fire and dropped the intruder. He was taken to George Washington University Hospital and is listed in stable condition as of 5:14 p.m..
DC police report the unarmed suspect was shot once in the torso by WTTG’s female security guard. His name is being withheld from the public at this time, but apparently the 38-year-old was well-known at FOX-5 because he had issued threats against both FOX and police.
According to The Washington Post, the DC resident “has filed more than two dozen federal lawsuits in recent years.” The man also filed a $100 billion lawsuit against FOX-5, “claiming the station controlled him with an ‘illegal nano-chip.’”
The intruder had been hospitalized previously and received psychiatric care for making death threats to law enforcement as well as a federal judge.
Ever since a shooter walked into the Annapolis Capital Gazette and gunned down five people, news outlets in the Washington area have been more than a bit jittery.
During my tenure at FOX most employees rarely used the front entrance unless they were returning from grabbing a bite to eat on Wisconsin Avenue. As well, the newsroom was not easily accessible from the front lobby. If the suspect wanted to harm newsroom employees, he was using the wrong entrance.
District police continue to investigate this incident as they try to uncover more about the man and his motives. As always, LibertyNation.com will keep abreast of the situation and provide our readers with additional information as it becomes available.
