Colt 45
12-23-2009, 05:05 PM
Police: 5 People Held Hostage Inside Virginia Post Office (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581012,00.html)
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
AP
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, West Virginia, were at the scene.
Virginia State Police sent in a special weapons and tactics team and a bomb technician. 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.
Postal worker Walt Korndoerfer 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," Korndoerfer 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.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
AP
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, West Virginia, were at the scene.
Virginia State Police sent in a special weapons and tactics team and a bomb technician. 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.
Postal worker Walt Korndoerfer 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," Korndoerfer 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.