One-legged Gator Now in Custody

[Emma]

Just south of my neck of the woods. Woohoo.

Suspect, 3 hostages walk out of Wytheville Post Office | WSLS 10

11:40 p.m.
By Ashley Roberts, in the field
WSLS Reporter

Sgt. Mike Conroy says the suspect’s name is Warren “Gator” Taylor, from Sullivan County, Tennessee.

Sgt. Conroy says investigators were able to talk Taylor out by negotiating to release three hostages, but Conroy did not say what Taylor asked for in exchange.

Investigators are intervewing Taylor and the hostages now.

Conroy says several weapons were found inside the post office, but no explosives have been found so far.

Prior reports were that a number of grenades were found in his vehicle.

3:30 p.m.
By Jeffrey Simmons
Wytheville Enterprise

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.

He had five hostages and five pounds of C4 strapped to his wheelchair? That must be a big chair...

 

[Chris]

Five pounds of C4 strapped to his wheelchair?

Sounds like the USMB just lost a poster!

 

[oreo]

Five pounds of C4 strapped to his wheelchair?

Sounds like the USMB just lost a poster!

Good one--

But one has to wonder how someone in a wheel chair gets granades & explosives???

 

[Chris]

Five pounds of C4 strapped to his wheelchair?

Sounds like the USMB just lost a poster!

Good one--

But one has to wonder how someone in a wheel chair gets granades & explosives???

Money talks.

 

[Emma]

Five pounds of C4 strapped to his wheelchair?

Sounds like the USMB just lost a poster!

http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/230851]

"He was really down on the government," Oliver told The Associated Press on Thursday in an interview at his mother's floral shop. "About the government taking over the right to bear arms ... (and) he was angry at the government over taxing us."

"He was really upset about Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize and sending troops to Afghanistan."

So who's been MIA in the last few days LOL

 

[Chris]

Five pounds of C4 strapped to his wheelchair?

Sounds like the USMB just lost a poster!

http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/230851]

"He was really down on the government," Oliver told The Associated Press on Thursday in an interview at his mother's floral shop. "About the government taking over the right to bear arms ... (and) he was angry at the government over taxing us."

"He was really upset about Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize and sending troops to Afghanistan."

So who's been MIA in the last few days LOL

Gunny's here, so maybe he got out on bail.

 

[loosecannon]

But was he a "terrorist" the same way that some Nigerian with fireworks on board a commercial flight was?

I mean 4 lbs of C4 and hostages vs some home made recipe strapped to his leg that caught fire but wouldn't ignite? Who is the terrorist?

 

[Chris]

But was he a "terrorist" the same way that some Nigerian with fireworks on board a commercial flight was?

I mean 4 lbs of C4 and hostages vs some home made recipe strapped to his leg that caught fire but wouldn't ignite? Who is the terrorist?

That Nigerian wasn't a terrorist.

He was a prince trying to deliver $2 million dollars to someone in America.

 

[Emma]

But was he a "terrorist" the same way that some Nigerian with fireworks on board a commercial flight was?

I mean 4 lbs of C4 and hostages vs some home made recipe strapped to his leg that caught fire but wouldn't ignite? Who is the terrorist?

The people he shot at and held hostage (and believed he had explosives) probably considered him a terrorist.

Seems I'm behind in the news. I don't know what you're talking about re: a Nigerian.

 

[Emma]

In all, Taylor faces six federal counts: three kidnapping charges that each carry the possibility of life in prison, attempted murder, use of a firearm in committing a felony and being a felon in possession of a gun.

----

According to an investigator's statement filed last month in federal court, Taylor told officers he had a long-standing, growing anger at the federal government that ultimately led him to pack guns and a mock bomb and drive north from Tennessee. His target was Roanoke, according to the statement, but after getting tired of driving, he stopped in Wytheville for food and gas, then decided to "end it" at the post office.

Wytheville post office standoff suspect indicted on 6 federal counts - Roanoke.com

Pissed off at the Feds, eh? Looks like they're going to get the last laugh.

Ol' gator's going to be penned up for quite a while...