Accused WMAR Invader Signed Notes Inside TV Station 'Love, God'
Vladimir Baptiste said he's reincarnation of King Tut and God, court papers say.
May 14, 2014— -- Vladimir Baptiste, the man accused of driving a stolen dump truck into a Baltimore television station and then barricading himself inside, believed he was the reincarnation of King Tut and Jesus Christ and signed notes while inside, “Love Vladimir (GOD),” according to court documents released today.
The court papers filed in Baltimore County, Md., state that Baptiste believed in a complex delusion that included the existence of alternate universes, or “multiverses” as he called them, where “bad things happen to people and they disappear because they are not real.”
Baptiste, a 29-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Haiti, told police he wanted to “expose the multiverse world” and he believed by smashing a truck into WMAR-TV on Tuesday he could “close the multiverse,” according to the document.
Read the Probable Cause Complaint Against Vladimir Bapstiste
Baptiste, who is from Parkville, Md., has been charged with three counts of second degree attempted murder.
After his arrest Baptiste told police that he is “a reincarnation of King Tut and Jesus Christ." He had an explanation for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight 370 and the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls that have commanded the world’s attention in recent weeks, authorities said. Those incidents, he stated, were “examples of the multiverses in that they never actually happened,” according to a statement of probable cause filed by police in the case.
To carry out his plan to close the “multiverse” at WMAR-TV, Baptiste walked about three miles from his home where he found a landscaping truck near York Road in Towson, Md. The truck was unoccupied and the keys were in the ignition. Baptiste allegedly saw an opportunity, snatched the truck and drove it another three miles to the WMAR studios.
Authorities say shortly before noon, Baptiste exited the truck and walked to the front door of the television station and demanded he be allowed to enter. He allegedly pulled on the locked doors and began to yell. That’s when WMAR security guard Anita Wilson called police for assistance.
According to witnesses, the suspect was screaming that he was God. He walked away from the doors but soon returned, this time with the stolen truck, authorities and witnesses said. He began ramming the vehicle into the lobby, eventually smashing through and driving into the building. A WMAR staffer captured the scene with a cell phone camera from a second floor window almost directly above where the truck was plowing through the lobby.
By the time police arrived Baptiste had barricaded himself into a second floor office, police said. Police cleared the rest of the building and were able to establish a video feed that allowed them to see into the room. They say they could see Baptiste sitting and watching news coverage of the incident, court papers state.
At approximately 4:30 p.m., police breached the door to the office and arrested Baptiste. According to charging documents, in the office investigators found several pieces of paper Baptiste had taped to the window with messages written on them including: “I am God almighty” “I gave you everything you never earned it” “F--- your multiverses! You have created to hurt my people!” “I’m here to save you all from the energies”“You are in the wrong timeline”“Everything is unfolding I don’t have to do anything!”
He allegedly signed the messages, “Love Vladimir (GOD)”
