Crime & Safety

K9 Rambo's Bite Brings Down Barricade Suspect

Shot fired as police dog wrestles armed gunman in Lanham.

A 9-hour-long barricade incident in Lanham over the weekend ended bizarrely as an armed gunman, running towards a television news crew, was subdued by a police dog named Rambo. 

The incident began on Saturday, July 6 at about 11:30 p.m. when police responded to the 9500 block of Wellington Street in Lanham after a neighbor reported a possible burglary in progress. 

Upon arriving on the scene, officers discovered a man acting erratically inside the home, breaking windows and refusing to come outside. 

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"Officers were met with the sight of a house that was in the process of being destroyed by a person inside the home," said Lt. William Alexander in a press conference on Sunday. "He broke out nearly every window in that house over several hours."

Soon after, officers with the Special Operations Division's Conflict Management Team established a perimeter around the home and began negotiating with the man inside the home. 

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The negotiations wore on through the night and into the morning until, at about 8:40 a.m. on Sunday, the suspect jumped from a rear window and bolted towards the street. 

"We have a very dangerous situation here, with an armed gunman sprinting through a residential community," said Alexander. "It can't get much worse than that."

According to police, the suspect, who was holding the handgun as he ran from the home, threatened a member of the emergency services team, who fired a single shot at the suspect. The shot went wide, though.

Moments later, police deployed Rambo, who grabbed the suspect by his arm and held him on the ground until officers could place the suspect into custody. 

The suspect was treated at a local hospital for minor injuries on his hands and arms sustained during the rampage and subsequent arrest. 

The officer who fired the shot, a 17-year veteran of the force currently assigned to the Special Operations Division Emergency Services Team, has been placed on routine administrative leave while an investigation is ongoing. 

Police believe the suspect may have been under the influence of PCP during the incident. So far, the suspect has been uncooperative with investigators. Police said that the suspect has so far given a number of false names to police. Police believe that the suspect lives at the ransacked home. 

The suspect faces charges of fist degree assault on a police officer, carrying a handgun, reckless endangerment and malicious destruction of property.


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