In March 2000, a Baltimore County police tactical unit was engaged in a tense 97-hour hostage standoff that ended with officers firing 27 bullets into Joseph Palczynski, a 31-year-old bodybuilder.

“Over a span of 13 years, he had lured at least seven young women into a fantasy relationship. And one by one, each had discovered the truth of his dangerously controlling personality,” according to a Baltimore Sun article published that year.

Four people died during his crime spree that stretched from eastern Baltimore County to Virginia. Palczynski had been arrested on assault charges stemming from a domestic argument with his girlfriend on March 4, 2000, in Bowleys Quarters. Out on bail, he killed the couple who had offered her shelter, as well as a neighbor who tried to assist the girlfriend. His fourth victim was a pregnant woman; she died when a bullet he fired ricocheted off a vehicle he was attempting to hijack.

Palczynski later broke into his girlfriend’s mother’s home in Dundalk and refused to leave. He was armed with a rifle, handguns and rounds of ammunition. He took three people hostage, including a 12-year-old boy.

Parts of Dundalk were placed under a lockdown. Baltimore County police killed Palczynski on March 21 after they stormed the home when Palczynski fell asleep (two of the hostages had given Palczynski a glass of iced tea spiked with the drug Xanax).

As Palczynski reached for a gun, he was shot.

jkelly@baltsun.com