A Maryland man was charged with first-degree murder after allegedly stealing a forklift from a Lowe’s Home Improvement store and then running over a woman with it in the nearby parking lot of a Home Depot, authorities said Monday.
Officers responded to a report of a burglary and theft in progress at a Lowe’s at about 12:40 a.m. Sunday, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Facebook.
The suspect, 20-year-old Bryce Caleb Timothy Brown, “broke into the business, stole a forklift and rammed it through the rear gates,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Brown then drove the forklift to a Home Depot, which is about half a mile northeast of the Lowe’s, where he rammed a vehicle in the store’s parking lot. Inside that vehicle, the sheriff’s office said, was a sleeping 73-year-old Gloristine Pinkney, whom Brown did not know.
Pinkney woke up, got out of the car and began running 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,” according to the sheriff’s office. “Officers who were investigating the initial burglary at Lowe’s canvassed the area and observed the forklift in the Home Depot parking lot. They subsequently discovered the victim underneath of the forklift; she was pronounced deceased on the scene.”
Brown was identified as a suspect and arrested Sunday evening, the sheriff’s office said. He was being held without bond at the county detention center, the sheriff’s office said, on charges that included first-degree murder, second-degree murder, assault and theft.
It was unclear Monday afternoon whether Brown had retained an attorney. His relatives could not be immediately reached for comment.
Attempts to reach Pinkney’s family were unsuccessful.
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