State Police have arrested a Motor Vehicle Administration employee from Hagerstown after he allegedly made a bomb threat Friday morning, according to the Office of the State Fire Marshal.
MVA employees approached a Maryland state trooper to say a coworker, 38-year-old Anthony Jacob Fritz, told them he was going to bomb the agency’s building in the Western Maryland city, according to a news release.
Police say a bomb squad, including an explosive detection canine team, searched the Hagerstown MVA building and found no explosives. Fritz faces one count of making a threat of mass violence and one count of arson threat, the news release states. He was later taken to a hospital for a medical evaluation.
An MVA spokesperson declined to comment on Fritz’s employment status with the agency Sunday afternoon, saying officials are unable to comment on personnel matters.
“The MVA and Maryland State Police followed security protocols to ensure that the branch office was thoroughly searched and deemed safe,” the agency said in an email. “We want to thank law enforcement and our employees for their swift response.”
Deputy state fire marshals and officers from other police agencies searched Fritz’s Hagerstown home and confiscated 26 guns and 67 containers of ammunition.
Maryland is a “red flag” state, meaning authorities can seize an individual’s firearms if that person is deemed a risk of doing harm. A judge must issue an “extreme risk protective order” for police to do so.
Another Hagerstown man, John Calvin Walls, 60, was arrested just two days earlier after he allegedly made multiple bomb threats against Williamsport Retirement Village, an assisted-living and long-term-care facility, according to a separate news release. A bomb squad with the state fire marshal’s office searched the property but found no explosives.
