A man was shot outside a Baltimore TV station as police were investigating reports of a bomb threat.

Offices of the Fox Baltimore television affiliate WBFF were evacuated after a bomb threat and fire, the station reported.

Firefighters put out a fire which appeared to have been set in the gas tank of a vehicle parked in the station lot, the station said on its website.

It said that according to its security guard a suspect threatened to "blow up" the building.

Staff leaving the building saw a man standing in the building's vestibule who seemed to be wearing a bulky suit of some kind, the station reported.

A police spokeswoman said officers were investigating.