[UPDATE: Suspect in custody, all hostages safe; Incident over.]

BALTIMORE — A man wanted in connection with a rape led police here on a chase Sunday afternoon that ended with a gunman rushing into a Burger King and taking four hostages, including a child, a department spokesman said.

Police said the incident began about 11 a.m. and was ongoing at 2 p.m at the restaurant in the 1700 block of Washington Boulevard in the southwestern part of the city, near Interstate 95.

T.J. Smith, a Baltimore police spokesman, said the suspect crashed into a car on Washington Boulevard near Monroe Street and then ran into the Burger King, carrying a gun.

Smith said those being held include a 7-year-old child. Negotiators were on scene but Smith would not say if they were in contact with the gunman. “Our ultimate goal is to end this peacefully,” he said.

The 39-year-old owner of a 7-Eleven next to the Burger King said he heard the crash that ended the chase and along with his workers rushed outside to help.

By that time, he said, the gunman had already run inside the restaurant “and police were swarming” the building and the car. He said there was a woman in a car at the drive-through window.

The owner said police then forced him and employees to leave the area; about two dozen people gathered a short distance away behind police lines. The owner, who declined to give his name, distributed water to people waiting to get back to closed businesses and vehicles they’d been forced to abandon.

Two armored police vehicles are on the scene in addition to a SWAT unit.

Police have not released the name of the suspect.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post · Peter Hermann

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