911 Call Leads to Arrest in Anne Arundel Community College Hostage Hoax

By Brian Hooks

Anne Arundel County police, with assistance from police in Howard County, charged a man in connection with a hostage hoax for reporting to police that there was a hostage situation at a school in Anne Arundel County on Tuesday. 

Shortly before 12:30 p.m., a man called 911 and reported that a woman was holding eight students at gunpoint inside the Careers Building on campus at Anne Arundel Community College, in Arnold, according to police.

Responding officers quickly found there was no hostage incident, and determined the call was a hoax.

Investigators came up with a suspect, who was identified as a former AACC student, police said.

After learning the man frequented the East Columbia Library, authorities in Anne Arundel County contacted police in Howard County and shared a bulletin seeking information about him.

Shortly before noon on Wednesday, someone called 911 and said they recognized the suspect.  Police eventually took him into custody.

Police charged George Walter Carlisle II, 43, of no fixed address, with telephone misuse, disrupting school operations and providing a false statement to police.

"Law enforcement takes all hoaxes extremely seriously as they put the public at risk and elicit a large police response," Anne Arundel County Police Chief Kevin Davis said in a statement.

"Our faculty and staff regularly prepare for these types of scenarios and I commend the response of everyone involved," said Gary Lyle, public safety director for AACC.