Man in animal onesie shot by police after threatening to blow up TV station

A man wearing a hedgehog costume threatened to blow up a Fox-affiliate in Baltimore on Thursday.

A suspect wearing an animal suit in Baltimore before he was shot by police on Thursday. (CBSN)

A man wearing a hedgehog onesie was shot and injured by police after threatening to blow up a Baltimore TV station while wearing a fake bomb on Thursday.

Police said the suspect, who was wearing a fake bomb made entirely of wires and chocolate, is expected to survive after being shot three times by a police sniper.

The Fox45 television station was evacuated on after the threat was reported. Mike Tomko, the station's news director, said that the suspect was sitting in the building's lobby and had demanded to be shown on air.

Kenneth K Lam/The Baltimore Sun/Associated Press (Kenneth K Lam/The Baltimore Sun/Associated Press)

"He talked to me and was wearing what appears to be a full body white panda suit, surgical mask and sunglasses," Tomko wrote on Facebook. "He had a flash drive, said he had information he wanted to get on the air. He compared it to the information found in the Panama Papers. I told him, 'I can't let you in, you're going to have to leave the flash drive here and slide it through the opening.' He wouldn't do that. Apparently he had made some threats before.”

A security guard working at the station told local reporters that the suspect claimed to have a bomb and began making threats at 1:20pm.

“He pretty much said he had a bomb on him and that he had a message that he needed to be heard,” the security guard said.

Bryan Woolston/Reuters (Bryan Woolston/Reuters)

The suspect's father later identified his son as 25-year-old Alex Brizzi.

“We really didn’t see this coming. This happened so fast. It’s only been a couple of weeks," Ed Brizzi told CBS Baltimore. "We were looking at him, trying to assess him, trying to figure out what to do. He’s 25 years old, so I can’t say ‘You’ve got to go into the hospital.'"

Police said the investigation is ongoing and will provide an update on Friday.