FBI identifies man who died in NSA incident as Ricky Shawatza Hall
The FBI on Tuesday identified the man who died after the stolen vehicle he was in crashed into a police cruiser Monday at the gate of the National Security Agency in Fort Meade as Ricky Shawatza Hall, 27.
Authorities released Halls identity in a statement but did not offer more details about how he died. A second man who was in the vehicle with him has been identified as Kevin Lamont Fleming, 20, of Baltimore. He continues to be hospitalized.
The NSA police officer who was also injured after the incident was released from the hospital Monday, according to the FBI.
Hall and the man in the car with him were dressed as women at the time of the crash, but not in an attempt to disguise themselves from authorities, the statement said.
Federal prosecutors and the FBI are working to determine if any charges will be filed, the statement said.
Local television showed two damaged vehicles near a gate and emergency workers loading an injured uniformed man into an ambulance. (AP)
The incident did not appear to be a planned attack or related to terrorism but may have been a case of a wrong turn, according to authorities. The driver of the stolen car may have mistakenly taken a restricted exit heading toward an NSA security post about 9 a.m. Monday and ignored police commands to stop possibly because there were drugs inside the vehicle.
Police fired at the SUV as it accelerated toward the cruiser, authorities said, but it is unclear how the officer and the two men involved were injured. In the aftermath of the crash, images from local television cameras showed two vehicles with smashed bumpers and flipped hoods at a security gate near NSA headquarters.
The SUV involved in the incident was reported stolen from a Howard County motel on U.S. 1 in Elkridge, south of Baltimore, where the men involved in the incident had briefly stayed on Monday. Authorities had previously said the motel was in adjacent Jessup.
Officials with knowledge of the investigation said investigators believe a 60-year-old man who owns the Ford Escape picked up the two men who were dressed as women at the time in Baltimore on Sunday night or early Monday. Howard County police said in a statement that the three men checked into the Terrace Motel on U.S. 1, also called Washington Boulevard, at 7:30 a.m. Monday. The county police said the two men dressed as women stole the SUV about 8:30 a.m.
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FBI identifies man who died in NSA incident as Ricky Shawatza Hall