Man in Animal Costume Shot by Police Thought World Was Ending

His father says he believed God spoke to him
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 30, 2016 12:50 PM CDT
Man in Animal Costume Shot by Police Thought World Was Ending
A man wearing a full animal costume and surgical mask walks out of a TV station in Baltimore on Thursday.   (Kenneth K. Lam/The Baltimore Sun via AP)

The man shot by Baltimore police Thursday while wearing an animal costume and explosive vest made out of candy bars believed the world was ending, the AP reports. Police have identified the man who walked into a TV station and was later shot multiple times after refusing to put his hands up as 25-year-old Alex Brizzi. Brizzi's father Edward says his son had some sort of breakdown two weeks ago after his girlfriend broke up with him. He says his son believed he had a vision from God telling him the world was going to end June 3. Edward says his son was possibly trying to get the word out when he walked into the TV station.

Before being shot by police, Brizzi handed a flash drive to a security guard at the TV station. The guard tells CBS Baltimore the drive contained a bunch of astronomy-related stuff, including information on the sun and black holes. "He just wanted to say that the government was wrong in thinking about the way they do when it comes to anything in space,” the guard says. Brizzi, who also allegedly set fire to his own car outside the TV station, is expected to survive. He's been charged with arson, malicious burning, threat of arson, reckless endangerment, and possessing a phony destructive device. (More bomb threat stories.)

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