- The terrifying 90-minute ordeal took place on Thursday evening just 10 minutes from Washington DC
- The woman, whose identity has not yet been released, was arrested later that evening
- Local police chief compared Maryland’s panic to the 2002 search for the DC sniper
A woman has been arrested after a chaotic crime spree in which she beat five people in four separate hit-and-runs and stabbed two others, including a teenager, before going on the run in Maryland.
The terrifying incident took place over a 90-minute period on Thursday, prompting one police chief to compare the fear in the area to the hunt for the DC sniper.
The horror started when a pedestrian was hit by a car in the city Capitol Heights, just ten miles from Washington DC, around 5 p.m. That woman was slightly injured.
Ten minutes later, police were called to a separate scene in Landover, where a man and a 15-year-old were hit by a car. Witnesses said the woman then got out of her car and stabbed the teen, causing serious injuries. The man suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
At 5:30 p.m., another person was hit, again with non-life-threatening injuries. And then, just a few minutes later, another person was hit by the car.
Investigators quickly determined the suspect was a woman driving a dark-colored sedan
An hour later, a stabbing was reported at a Lanham gas station after the suspect hailed a taxi and shortly after getting into the car attacked the driver and stabbed him, police said.
Shortly after the stabbing, police released a description of the suspect and the car.
The taxi drivers’ injuries were described as critical by authorities. Local media showed the car was towed from the scene.
Investigators quickly determined the suspect was a woman driving a dark-colored sedan.
Late Thursday, Prince George County police announced that the woman was now in custody. They have not released any details about her condition or the circumstances surrounding her arrest.
Deputy Chief James McCreary of the Prince George’s County Police Department told media that he has been with the force since 2004 and that he has not seen panic since the Washington DC sniper’s massacre in the region.
“This is very concerning, very frightening and that’s why we wanted to alert the public immediately,” he said. WUSA9.
“The closest I can think of in recent memory was the DC sniper when I was coming up. It’s shocking,” he added.
Shortly after 11pm on Thursday evening, police confirmed the person of interest had been located and was in custody. Details of their arrest are expected later today.
One official described the search for the stabbing suspect as reminiscent of the search for D.C. sniper John Muhammad, left. and Lee Boyd Malvo, right
Lee Boyd Malvo was 17 when he and John Allen Muhammad shot and killed 10 people and wounded three others over a three-week period in October 2002.
In recent months, several other victims were shot across the country as the duo headed from Washington state to the nation’s capital.
Malvo was convicted of capital murder in Virginia and sentenced to life in prison without parole. But a series of Supreme Court rulings and a change in Virginia law gave Malvo the chance to apply for parole after nearly two decades in custody.
Malvo’s accomplice, John Allen Muhammad, was executed in Virginia in 2009.