Suspect charged with attempted murder of officer

WASHINGTON – A 21-year-old College Park man has been charged with attempted second-degree murder of a police officer after getting into a shootout with law enforcement.

He is also charged with assault, use of a firearm, theft and destruction of property.

The chain of events began at about 10:20 p.m. Thursday when Andre McKoy’s mother called 911 and said her son was high on PCP, police say.

When officers arrived, McKoy came out of the home in the 4700 block of Lakeland Road holding his mother at gunpoint. The home is near the University of Maryland campus.

His mother was able to get away, but police say McKoy and officers exchanged fire. McKoy was shot and tased several times yet still managed to run toward a police cruiser, according to authorities.

After trying to start one police vehicle, McKoy got into another cruiser and used the keys left in the ignition to start the car and drive away, police say. He then drove into a brick barrier at the parking lot of a McDonald’s on Baltimore Avenue in College Park.

McKoy is recovering from gunshot wounds at a local hospital.

Multiple photos and videos posted on social media show the damaged police cruiser. (See videos below.)

Earlier, Lateshia Foster told WTOP she went to the window of a Royal Farms convenience store and heard about 10 gunshots. She says she saw police putting a man in the back of a police cruiser while beating him with nightsticks.

“When he was placed in the police car, he made his way up to the front,” Foster says. She says she saw McKoy drive down Baltimore Avenue and hit the wall by the McDonald’s.

The area of Baltimore Avenue between Paint Branch Parkway and Berwyn House Road was closed Thursday night and upward of 17 police cruisers were on the scene. Police Friday morning towed away two slightly banged-up cruisers, as well as a van and a car.

One officer was hurt, but not in the actual shooting. The injuries were not life- threatening.

Despite multiple reports that the University of Maryland campus was put on lockdown, WTOP confirmed that it was not.

The following video was posted by Twitter user Bikram Kohli.

WTOP’s Lacey Mason, Ari Ashe and Kristi King contributed to this report. Follow Lacey, Ari, Kristi and WTOP on Twitter.

(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

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