UPDATE: Gunman apprehended; suspect identified

The sound of cascading sirens mixed with the sharp report of multiple gunshots Wednesday afternoon as an armed man, reportedly strapped with explosives, shut down Main Street and other roads surrounding the Wytheville Post Office.

According to police on the scene, the man had five hostages and five pounds of C-4, a common plastic explosive, strapped to his wheelchair. Officers on the scene were encouraging the man to contact a hostage negotiator through 911.

Postal worker Walt Korndorfer said there was at least one hostage in the builiding. Supervisor Margie Austin, he said, was unaccounted for. The post master, he said, was out of the building when the shooting started.

Korndorfer said he was in his office, to the side of the Main Street building, figuring out newspaper postage reports when he heard shots and a co-worker ran past. He followed suit, running from the building and down Main Street, where he helped police block and redirect taffic in the early moments of the standoff.

Town police had blocked off a three-block square perimeter as officers outside the post office crouched behind vehicles, rifles at the ready. Police were working with the fire department and other agencies to evacuate Main Street just before 3 p.m. By quarter till four, a bomb squad had arrived and Virginia State Police had a helicopter in the air, circling downtown Wytheville. 911 operators around 3:45 p.m. advised employees at nearby businesses to get out of the buildings surrounding the post office. 

A customer who was leaving the post office as the gunman entered, said he was in a wheelchair and driving a red truck with Marine Corps stickers. She reported that he had fired at police and had hand grenades. A sheriff’s office employee confirmed that there were grenades on the man’s truck.

At 4:30, the Wytheville Fire Department was readying for what could be a long night, getting a truck with lighting capability set up across from the post office, where the red truck with a camper top, it’s lights still on, sat in the drive through lane.

Smyth County deputies had joined Wytheville and State police, Wythe deputies and the game department.

Charlie Griffith, manager of post office operations in Bristol, declined to comment about the situation or the number of hostages when reached at his office late Wednesday. He is a former post master at the Wytheville Post Office.
“I have no comment at this time,” Griffith stated. “I don’t when we will.”

Ashley Roberts of WSLS reported that the Sheriff’s Office said the man claims to have one bomb inside the building and one outside. No demands have been made, she reported, and the sheriff’s office has been in contact with the FBI and bomb tech experts.

Updated 4:45 p.m.

Susan Holman, manager of the Wytheville ABC store across the street from the post office, said she was on her lunch break at around 3:15 p.m. Wednesday when a co-worker came to the back of the building. Her fellow employee, she said, told her a customer said a policeman wouldn’t let him leave the store.
“About 15 minutes later, the officer came back and told us to lock up and get in the back of the building,” Holman said. “About half an hour later, he came back and told us to evacuate the building.”
According to her, the officer told them there was a man in the post office with explosives. He also told her the suspect had taken five hostages and had fired shots.
“The officer told us the man had enough explosives to take out the whole block,” Holman added.
Not allowed to get their vehicles, the two women walked down the street to the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office. They were picked up by a relative and taken home.

Updated at 5:15 p.m.

A horde of law enforcement officers, including those from the FBI, have turned Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, which is within eyesight of the post office, into a command center. Police said they are working on a plan of action.
Businesses and homes in a three-block radius of the post office have been evacuated, they said.

Updated at 5:46 p.m.

Eric Deaton, chief executive officer of Wythe County Community Hospital, said he and others in hospital leadership positions have been meeting every half hour. He said the group has been in kept up to date by local law enforcement and emergency services workers.
The hospital, which recently completed an emergency room renovation, was on Code Green, Deaton said, meaning it was preparing for the potential for mass casualties or injuries. He said the hospital trains for situations such as the one that stretched into nightfall on Wednesday and responded according to plan. He said extra staff had been brought in and other staff would be staying on even after the 7 p.m. shift change. He said extra physicians had been called in, along with extra staff from the imaging department. Two surgeons and three other doctors are on standby, Deaton said. 

Updated 6:36 p.m.

Media continues to pour into town, as outlets across the globe pick up the story. Around 6:30 p.m., a reporter near the police staging area said he caught movement inside the post office on two occasions. He said twice he saw a figure walking from right to left across the lighted main entrance, beyond a bank of stairs rising from Main Street. The Associated Press is reporting that the man has only demanded pizza thus far. The news agency said a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said the man in a wheelchair was missing part of his leg. Postal inspectors from Roanoke and Charleston, W.Va., are at the scene.

Updated 6:49 p.m.

“We love you,” Niki Oliver yelled to her brother Jimmy Oliver who was on the phone with her mother.
According to Niki Oliver, her brother is one of the five hostages holed up inside the post office. He went there Wednesday afternoon to mail a Christmas gift to his son.
All of the hostages appear to be OK, Niki said, and her brother has called family members at least three times by cell phone.
The family doesn’t know what the hostage taker wants or who he is, Niki said.

Updated at 7:01 p.m.

Wytheville Mayor Trent Crewe, serving as public information officer for the gathered police and emergency workers, said there is not a lot of new information. He said a shelter has been set up at the fire departmernt for anyone concerned about their safety; however, he said there is no reason to anticipate anything hazardous would extend beyond the area already evacuated and cordoned off.

“Our prayers are with everyone involved,” Crewe said. “Virtually every resource you can imagaine is at work on this,” he said, making specific mention of the Red Cross.

Crewe said negotiations are under way but there is no word on the gunman’s demands or motive.

“The community will make it through this situation,” the mayor said.

State Police Sgt. M.T. Conroy said that as of 6:30 p.m. the gunman had not been identified and police had no information as to his background.

Updated at 7:18 p.m.

Apparently the gunman inside the post office is ambulatory. Conroy said that the man had pushed the wheelchair into the building. Within the past hour, the sergeant said, food and drinks had been delivered to the folks inside the post office.

Conroy said there is no ID of the gunman that can be released. He asked anyone with information to call the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office at 223-6001.

Updated at 8:04 p.m.

From Ashley Roberts, in the field
WSLS Reporter
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Wythe Co. Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Keith Dunagan says there are fewer than the original five or six hostages believed to be inside the post office.  Dunagan would not say what led investigators to believe that are now fewer hostages.

Dunagan added that officers have confirmed that one of the hostage is an employee at the post office, and that the suspect has allowed a couple of the hostages to call their families to tell them they are OK.

Dunagan says the suspect still has not told officers what his name is, but is claiming to be a veteran of the Marine Corps, and not from Wytheville.  Officers believe a red truck at the scene is the suspect’s.

Dunagan says the suspect has not made any additional demands, other than food and to talk with the FBI and a bomb tech expert.  Dunagan says the suspect has spoken with the FBI, as well as explosives experts, and the FBI is now handling the negotiating.

Dunagan added that more FBI agents are on the way, since the post office is a federal building.

Updated at 8:37 p.m.

At least two people have been seen at the service lobby windows in recent minutes, according to media observers. These are same windows that sustained at least three bullet holes earlier on Wednesday.

Updated at 9:55 p.m.

Three people have left the post office, but police wouldn’t confirm whether or not they were hostages.

Updated at 11:05 p.m.

Police apparently have the gunman on the ground on Sixth Street.

11:16 p.m.

Police have confirmed that three hostages were released and that the gunman has apparently surrended. Officers, though, haven’t been inside the post office to see if anyone else is inside.
“We’re treating everything with an ounce of caution because we don’t know what he had,” Sgt. Conroy said.

Updated at 11:21 p.m.

Police are now searching inside the post office but have scaled back the area that is blocked off.

Updated at 11:40 p.m.

Police have identified the suspect as Warren “Gator” Taylor of Sullivan County, Tenn. Officers are debriefing Taylor who could face federal and state charges. Police haven’t released his age.

Updated at 11:49 p.m.