June 30th, 2024 by WCBC Radio

A Hagerstown man was arrested after he threatened to blow up the Maryland Vehicle Administration building on Friday morning. 

Anthony Jacob Fritz, 38, of Hagerstown, and an employee of the MVA located on Colonel Henry K. Douglas Drive, faces one count of making a threat of mass violence and one count of arson threat.

At around 10:30 a.m., employees approached a Maryland State Police trooper working at the MVA. They told him that Fritz said to other employees he was going to bomb the building. After a preliminary investigation, he requested the Office of the State Fire Marshal Bomb Squad and an OSFM explosive detection canine team to respond.  K9 "Rosie" searched the building, and no explosives were found, and Deputy State Fire Marshals assumed the investigation. After consulting with the Washington County State's Attorney's Office, Fritz was taken into custody on an arrest warrant. 

Investigators petitioned for and received an Extreme Risk Protective Order (ERPO), allowed under Maryland's Red Flag law, to search Fritz's home on Kasinof Avenue in Hagerstown. 

Deputy State Fire Marshals and troopers searched Fritz's home, where they located 26 guns and 67 containers of ammunition where they remain in police custody. 

Fritz was later taken to a local hospital for a medical evaluation.