WALDORF, Md. — A woman was killed on Sunday after a person stole a forklift from a Maryland business and ran her over in a parking lot, authorities said.
Update 6:11 p.m. EDT July 4: According to a news release from the Charles County Sheriff’s Office, Bryce Caleb Timothy Brown, 20, was arrested Sunday evening. He was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, assault, theft and “other related charges,” the release stated.
Brown is accused of running over Gloristine Pinkney, 73, of Waldorf, with a forklift in a Home Depot parking lot on Jefferson Farm Place in Waldorf, the sheriff’s office said. She was found underneath the forklift when deputies arrived at the scene.
According to the news release, Brown had broken into a Lowe’s Home Improvement store on Crain Highway in Waldorf and stole a forklift. He fled by ramming the gates of the store, WJLA-TV reported.
The sheriff’s office alleged that Brown drove the forklift away from the store and drove it into the parking lot of the Home Depot, where he rammed into a vehicle.
Pinkney, who was sleeping in the car, exited the vehicle and began to run away, the sheriff’s office said.
“Brown followed her, struck her with the forklift and ran over her, and then stole the victim’s car and fled,” the sheriff’s office said.
Pinkney is being held at the Charles County Detention Center without bail, the sheriff’s office said.
Original report: According to a Facebook post by the Charles County Sheriff’s Office, officers responded to a home improvement store in the 2500 block of Crain Highway in Waldorf at 12:40 a.m. EDT. Although deputies did not identify the business, a Lowe’s store is located at 2525 Crain Highway in the area, according to the store’s website.
Witnesses told deputies that a person broke into the store, stole a forklift and fled by ramming the gates of the store, WJLA-TV reported. The person had already fled the scene when deputies arrived, according to the television station.
The sheriff’s office said they found the forklift at a different home improvement store on Jefferson Farm Place in Waldorf. The address was near a Home Depot store on the same street, according to the store’s website.
Deputies found the victim underneath the forklift at the second business, WUSA-TV reported. She was pronounced dead at the scene.’
According to the sheriff’s office, the suspect allegedly encountered the woman in the parking lot of the second business and struck her with the forklift. He allegedly fled the scene in her vehicle, which deputies say could be a dark copper-colored 2019 Ford Fusion. The vehicle had damage to the passenger side of the car with a missing side mirror, WUSA reported.
Officials say a suspect ran a woman over with a forklift and later took off in the victim's car. https://t.co/pEPXxeDBdB
— WUSA9 (@wusa9) July 2, 2023
The woman has not been identified, and it was unclear if she knew the suspect, WJLA reported.
It is also unclear why the suspect took the forklift from one home improvement store and took it to the parking lot of a similar business.
An investigation is ongoing.
