Breaking News Update: Gunman Who Held 4 Ga. Firefighters Hostage Has Been Shot & Killed by Police
A police officer holds a rifle as he walks near the scene where a man is said to be holding four Gwinnett County firefighters hostage in Suwanee, Ga., Wednesday, April 10, 2013. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
SUWANEE, Georgia (AP) — Police have shot dead a gunman who was holding four firefighters hostage in the U.S.
Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Edwin Ritter says all of the hostages are slightly injured but OK, but one police officer was shot in the hand.
The police used an explosion to enter the home Wednesday evening outside Atlanta.
Authorities say five firefighters had responded to what seemed like a routine medical call. The gunman later released one firefighter to move a fire truck.
The unidentified gunman’s motive was unclear to police and fire officials.
ORIGINAL STORY
JOHNNY CLARK, Associated Press; PHILLIP LUCAS, Associated Press
SUWANEE, Ga. (AP) — A gunman barricaded himself in a home in suburban Atlanta and was holding four firefighters hostage Wednesday afternoon, authorities in northeast Georgia said.
Five firefighters responded to a medical call in Suwanee and were eventually taken hostage by an unidentified suspect inside the house, Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Edwin Ritter said. The gunman released one of the firefighters from the house to move a fire truck.
The gunman’s motive was unclear to police and fire officials, and a SWAT team and negotiator have made contact with the suspect Wednesday evening.
There was no indication that any of the firefighters had been hurt, said fire department Capt. Tommy Rutledge, adding the medical call seemed routine and firefighters did not believe there was any danger.
“Right now we just want our firefighters to be released. We want them to be able to go home safe to their families,” Rutledge told WSB-TV.
Television helicopter footage showed police and fire trucks surrounding the neighborhood of mostly two-story homes and well-kept lawns about 35 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta. Residents were not being allowed in to their neighborhood.
Rutledge said one engine and one ambulance responded to the home. The firefighters are cross-trained as emergency medical technicians, said Rutledge, who would not speculate on whether there was a real emergency at the home.
“Our firefighters responded to a call they respond to hundreds of times, and that’s a medical emergency,” he said.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
