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Wed 23 Dec, 2009 06:26 pm
(CNN) -- An armed disabled man was holding five people hostage nearly four hours after his takeover of a Virginia post office on Wednesday, the town's mayor said.
The man entered the Wytheville, Virginia, post office about 2:30 p.m. and fired a shot, Mayor Trent Crewe said. No one has been hurt, but three postal workers and two customers are being held hostage, he said.
There also are reports that the man has a "device" and it appears the man's car, parked outside the office, is equipped with some type of device, Crewe said. He did not elaborate on what the device could be.
The surrounding area of downtown Wytheville has been evacuated, Crewe said.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/23/virginia.post.office.hostage/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn
Where the hell is Wytheville? RealJohnBoy, you anywehere near there?
I saw this story earlier. Do you think it's still going on?
@Merry Andrew,
Here ya go, Andy.
That's rather scary stuff. Wonder what "the device was"
I used to live in Virginia
Cville in the map above is kind of above the M in Richmond on the E-W Interstate.
I am hearing that the police are talking to him but are not going to do anything rash. He will grow weary at some point.
@edgarblythe,
Yah, most recent I heard they haven't taken him out yet.
Police now say that there are fewer than the 5 hostages reported earlier. For what that is worth.
@realjohnboy,
Thanx for staying on top of this for us, rjb.
@Merry Andrew,
This started 9 hours ago, at 2:30 pm local time. The guy, I assume, had been awake for a few hours. He had pizza. He will fall asleep soon, I think. The hostages are warm, dry, and not freaking out. The police will not take any drastic action. That seems to be the strategy.
Whytheville is in the middle of just about nowhere, SW Virginia. Along I-81. I suspect that they know who he is, but aren't saying. There is/was a mental institution there. There also may/or may not be a VA facility there.
@realjohnboy,
I've driven past there a few times.
kinda nowhereish...
This is just 50 miles down the road from me.
Local (ie. Roanoke) TV is now reporting that all the hostages are out and the hostage-taker is in custody.
Confirm that. Over.
Where are you at, jjorge?
Quote: A daylong hostage standoff ended late Wednesday when an armed, disabled man wheeled himself out of a post office in Wytheville, Virginia, and was taken into custody, police said.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/24/virginia.post.office.hostage/index.html
Whew!
Always happy when situations like that end with no shots fired.
@Merry Andrew,
There are so many dingbats in Virginia, the police are used to these things...oh....sorry
I forgot jjorge and johnboy ....never mind
Details are emerging this morning about the criminal history of the suspect in Wednesday's hostage situation at the Wytheville Post Office.
Warren "Gator" Taylor is listed on the Tennessee sex offender registry as living in Bristol. His information on that Web site was updated on May 20.
Taylor was convicted of lewd and lascivious behavior on a child in 1986 in Florida. Court records stated he showed a juvenile girl pornographic magazines, exposed himself and fondled her. He was sentenced to two years of community control, according to reports published in October 1993 in the Bradenton (Fla.) Herald.
Taylor made headlines when he ambushed and shot at his ex-wife in Bradenton.
He was charged with attempted second-degree murder for firing shots at Karen Taylor, then 41, in the parking lot of Beall's Department Stores Distribution Center, where she worked.
Warren Taylor shot her with a small-caliber handgun once in each ankle and once in a thigh, the newspaper reported.
Warren Taylor, then 37 and living in Port Charlotte, Fla., was taken into custody that evening, after eluding police for more than 10 hours.
He apparently was angry with his ex-wife and blamed her because he appeared on a local television news segment of Crime Stoppers, the newspaper reported. He was wanted on sexual battery and lewd and lascivious behavior charges stemming from 1991 incidents involving a teenage girl.
Taylor was convicted of attempted second-degree murder and the two sex charges and sentenced Aug. 15, 1994, to serve 12 years in prison.
He served four years and was released on Dec. 23, 1998, according to the Florida Department of corrections.
The department listed his address as of April 2000 as Punta Gorda, Fla.
According to online court records, Taylor filed for bankruptcy in 1998, listing his address as Raiford, Fla. His case was dismissed several months later.
In 2007, Taylor was taken to court by Chase Bank over $25,117 he owned. His address was listed as Port Charlotte, Fla.
Taylor has two sisters, a brother and multiple ex-wives.
His mother, Lakie Rowena Taylor, died Nov. 17, 2001. She was a native of Washington County and had lived in Virginia, Indiana and Florida -- all places her obituary listed her children as living.
His daughter with ex-wife Karen, Kerri Lee Taylor, died Dec. 27, 2004, at age 26. She lived in Bradenton. Her obituary did not say why she died but suggested memorials be made to the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.
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