(Updated at 3:25 p.m.) A Naval Support Activity Bethesda security officer fired a shot at a woman fleeing a car stop near the North campus entrance after she escaped police pursuit in Virginia and was observed eating a bar of soap, police said.
The woman, identified as 27-year-old Angela Akosua Cobbold of Manassas, Va., was finally apprehended at about 12:15 p.m. after she crashed at a construction site near the North Bethesda Harris Teeter grocery store, Montgomery County Police spokesman Paul Starks said.
The incident started at about 11:25 a.m., when Virginia State Police observed Cobbold traveling 93 miles per hour on eastbound I-66, Starks said. At least one officer pursued her until she crossed into Maryland on the American Legion Bridge. The lookout for the vehicle, a black Mitsubishi, was put out to Maryland State Police and MCPD, Starks said.
At about 11:50 a.m., Cobbold drove from Route 355 onto the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center North campus entrance ramp and made a U-turn. She stopped in traffic and NSAB security personnel attempted to speak with her. Starks said officers noticed her biting or attempting to eat a bar of soap.
Cobbold hit a civilian vehicle while she tried to elude those officers, Starks said. She never made it onto base, as NSAB spokesman Joe Macri had said earlier.
Cobbold then exited the entrance ramp and made a left-hand turn to go south on Route 355 before turning around again in the Medical Center Metro parking lot. She came back toward the North entrance on Route 355, and was stopped in the right-hand lane, Starks said.
When a NSAB security officer approached her, she backed into his car and drove onto a grassy area off the roadway, Starks said. Starks said another NSAB security officer was on foot in front of the approaching car and fired one shot into Cobbold’s vehicle. She was not hit by the shot, Starks said.
At some point during the confrontation, a NSAB security officer busted out one of Cobbold’s windows with his baton, which caused minor injuries to the officer, Macri said.
Cobbold continued north on Route 355, but in the southbound lanes before turning left on West Cedar Lane. She made a right on Old Georgetown Road before colliding with a fence in a construction area near the White Flint Metro station.
MCPD officers apprehended her and took her to a hospital, Starks said, though he wasn’t sure if she was undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.
