5 held hostage at rural Virginia post office

[jimmy olsen]

A man after my own heart. I so need a good pizza right now.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34577500/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

5 held hostage at rural Virginia post office
Suspect in wheelchair claims to be armed with explosives, asks for pizza

updated 3:41 p.m. PT, Wed., Dec . 23, 2009

WYTHEVILLE, Va. - An armed man in a wheelchair took five people hostage Wednesday at a post office in a small, rural town, forcing officials to cordon off a three-block area of a downtown filled with holiday shoppers.

Shots were fired, but there were no reports of injuries. The man made no demands other than to ask for a pizza, said Pete Rendina, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Rendina said the man was in a wheelchair and missing part of his leg, but he had no other information. Postal inspectors from Roanoke and Charleston, W.Va., were at the scene.

Virginia State Police sent in a SWAT team and a bomb technician, and police at the scene told the Wytheville Enterprise the man had five pounds of a common plastic explosive strapped to his chest. State police spokeswoman Corinne Geller would not confirm that.

Susan Holman, manager of a store across the street, said officers told employees to leave the building because there was a man with explosives in the post office.

"The officer told us the man had enough explosives to take out the whole block," Holman told the Enterprise.

Mayor Trent Crewe told The Associated Press five hostages were in the building, including three employees and two customers.

'Completely surrounded'
Postal worker Walt Korndorfer said he was in the post office when he heard shots and a co-worker ran past. He called police and then ran himself.

"You hear a shot, you get out," Korndorfer told The Roanoke Times.

Town Manager Wayne Sutherland, speaking from his office four blocks from the scene, said dozens of officers had circled the freestanding, brick post office.

"It's completely surrounded by police in every direction," Sutherland said. "All I can see is blue lights."

Sutherland said the streets of the town of 8,500 were filled with holiday shoppers.

"It's Christmas and all the stores are busy," he said.

Wytheville is the county seat of Wythe County, in southwest Virginia.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press

[sbr]

And it is over.  It doesn't appear that he got his pizza.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8429274.stm

A man suspected of taking hostages in a post office in the US state of Virginia has been arrested after a stand-off lasting several hours, police say.

Authorities in Wytheville persuaded Warren Taylor to give himself up and release three people he was holding.

Mr Taylor was reported to have entered the post office pushing a wheelchair and claiming to be carrying explosives.

He initially fired shots from the building but no-one was reported to have been injured.

"We're just grateful it ended peacefully," the Associated Press news agency quoted Police Sgt Michael Conroy as saying.

"This is just the best outcome we could hope for."

Earlier reports said the suspect was holding five people but some of those were later accounted for.

A witness told CNN that he and two other employees had escaped as the situation was unfolding.

Sgt Conroy of the Virginia State Police said Mr Taylor entered the post office at about 1430 local time (1930 GMT).

Police negotiated with him by telephone but he made no demands other than a request for a pizza, said Pete Rendina, spokesman for the US Postal Inspection Service.

Mr Taylor is reported to have told police he had a military background.

'Explosives device'

Local media reported the hostage taker was in a wheelchair, although witnesses later said they saw him walking inside the building. He emerged from the post office in the chair.

The town's mayor, Trent Crewe, told reporters police had been "acting on the assumption there is an explosive device of some kind in some location".

Police had cordoned off the scene and advised people to evacuate homes and businesses in the immediate area.

Local businesswoman Susan Holman told the Wytheville Enterprise newspaper police had warned the man had "enough explosives to take out the whole block".

However Sgt Conroy said no explosives had yet been found on the man or in the building.

[jimmy olsen]

That's fucking tragic, if you can't get a pizza for that what can you do?

[Caliga]

That's fucking tragic, if you can't get a pizza for that what can you do?

You can get a bullet through the base of your skull. 

[Savonarola]

And it is over.  It doesn't appear that he got his pizza.

ATTICA! 

[jimmy olsen]

Why not give him a pizza with a sedative mixed in?

[KRonn]

Couldn't he have just call the Police at 911, and complained about needing a pizza, like everyone else lately?  Last week I heard in the news another genius calling 911 to complain about an order for burgers or fries or something. But this was good, the police dispatcher told the woman that it isn't the police's job to take care of her food order, and that she didn't need any protection by the police for such a thing.   

[syk]

Why not give him a pizza with a sedative mixed in?

That lacks sportsmanship. 

[Martinus]

That's fucking tragic, if you can't get a pizza for that what can you do?

You can get a bullet through the base of your skull. 

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