Alleged Gunman Call Just A Hoax

OCEAN CITY – A reported incident involving an alleged gunman threatening himself and others at an Ocean City hotel this week turned out to be a false alarm, but not before resort police mobilized for the potentially dangerous situation.

Around lunchtime on Wednesday, resort police got a call from a distraught woman from Baltimore reporting her estranged husband was in a resort hotel room with a gun threatening to kill himself and anyone who tried to stop him including police. Taking nothing for granted, Ocean City police officials called in a negotiator and began to mobilize the Quick Response Team (QRT) for any eventuality.

The hotel was briefly locked down and guests at the hotel restaurant were not allowed to leave until the situation could be assessed. However, when several police arrived at the alleged gunman’s room at the Holiday Inn on 17th Street, the unidentified man denied the story and invited the officers inside to search for weapons, which turned up nothing.

“It was a crazy scene for a little while there,” said OCPD Public Affairs Specialist Jessica King. “We had the place on lockdown and were ready to get the SWAT team out. It could have been a bad situation. Thankfully, it turned out to be nothing.”