Cross-Dressers In Deadly NSA Crash Identified

Two cross-dressing men who were injured, one fatally, as police opened fire on their stolen vehicle outside the US National Security Agency have been named.

Ricky Shawatza Hall, 27, of Baltimore, disobeyed orders to stop early on Monday outside the Maryland headquarters of the electronic espionage agency.

His passenger in the Ford Escape, named by law enforcement sources as Kevin Lamont Fleming, 20, was taken to hospital. An NSA police officer was also injured.

The pair were dressed as women at the time of the crash, the FBI statement said, "but not in an attempt to disguise themselves from authorities".

The bureau said it did not believe the incident was related to terrorism.

Police said the suspects had just stolen a car from a man who picked them up for a motel "party", when they apparently took a wrong turn on to a highway exit that leads to the restricted area.

The vehicle's owner, a 60-year-old Baltimore man, told investigators he had picked up the two strangers in that city.

They arrived at around 7:30am local time on Monday at the Terrace Motel in Elkridge, Howard County Police said.

The unnamed SUV owner told police he went to the bathroom about an hour after checking in to a room, and when he came out Hall and Fleming were gone, along with his car keys.

NSA spokesman Jonathan Freed said: "The vehicle accelerated toward an NSA Police vehicle blocking the road.

"NSA Police fired at the vehicle when it refused to stop.

"The unauthorised vehicle crashed into the NSA Police vehicle."

The incident took place along the perimeter of Fort Meade, a sprawling military installation located about 15 miles (24km) south of Baltimore.

About 11,000 military personnel and about 29,000 civilian employees work at the complex.