A daylong standoff at a small-town Virginia post office ended peacefully
Wednesday with three hostages set free and a disabled suspect in a
wheelchair surrendering to police.

Warren "Gator" Taylor of Sullivan County, Tenn., was being questioned
and authorities do not yet have a motive, state police Sgt. Michael
Conroy said.

The standoff began at about 2:30 p.m. when shots were fired in the
freestanding, one-story brick post office in the mountain town of
Wytheville in western Virginia. No one was injured, and at least two of
the hostages were able to call family or friends.

It ended about 8 1/2 hours later without the dozens of SWAT members
armed with automatic weapons having to fire a shot.

"We're just grateful it ended peacefully," Conroy said. "This is just
the best outcome we could hope for."

Police in the town of about 8,500 in the heart of the Blue Ridge
Mountains told the Wytheville Enterprise that the suspect had what
appeared to be plastic explosives strapped to his chest.

However, although police found weapons, they located no explosives on
Taylor or his wheelchair, Conroy said. Authorities were searching the
building and Taylor's truck also, he said. He confirmed that several
shots were fired inside the downtown post office, but did not reveal
what type of weapons were used.

FBI negotiators had been talking with Taylor throughout the evening, and
a state trooper delivered food to the door, which was picked up by one
of the hostages. Originally, the town mayor said five hostages were
taken. Later, he said some of the people thought missing had been
accounted for, but he wasn't sure how many remained.

After hours and hours of little activity on a night that was growing
colder, at about 11 p.m., authorities using a bullhorn told the suspect:
"Come out with your hands up."

Soon after, one by one, the hostages walked down about 20 steps in front
of the building with their hands up. As the three came closer to police,
they lifted their shirts to show they had no weapons.

Taylor, who Conroy said has an artificial leg, came out last, wheeling
down a ramp from the building. A bomb-sniffing robot went up to him,
examined him and he also lifted his shirt. Taylor, a heavyset man
wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, then got out of the wheelchair under
his own power and lay down face-first on the cold concrete.

He got back up and was taken away in a police vehicle.

"It proves it can happen anywhere at anytime," Mayor Trent Crewe said.
"Why he picked here, I don't know."

Conroy said little was known about Taylor, not even his age. He did not
know if Taylor had a military background. Early reports said he was in a
wheelchair, but state police said he entered the building pushing one.

The suspect made no demands other than to ask for a pizza, said Pete
Rendina, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Carlton Austin said his daughter, postal worker Margie Austin, was among
the hostages. She managed to call a family friend around 4:30 p.m. and
said she was fine.

Niki Oliver told the Enterprise that her brother, Jimmy Oliver, was one
of the hostages and had been able to phone family members.

"We love you," she yelled to him as his mother was speaking to him on
the phone.

She said her brother went to the post office to mail a Christmas gift to
his son.

Postal worker Walt Korndoerfer said he was in the building when he heard
shots and a co-worker ran past. He called police and then ran himself.

His wife, Christine Korndoerfer, said he called around 3:30 p.m. to tell
her he had gotten out safely.

"My husband is not one to get upset," she said. "When he called, I don't
think I've ever heard him so upset."

Jim Daniels, 62, a retired coal miner stood at the police tape with
wife, June, watching as the situation unfolded.

"This is horrible and right before Christmas," he said.

The traditional-looking American town was decked out for Christmas and
the downtown was crowded with shoppers when the hostage standoff began.
But police advised store workers and those in other nearby buildings to
leave as authorities cordoned off a three-block area surrounding the
post office and snipers stood at the ready on some roof tops.

June Daniels could only shake her head as she watched the SWAT members
in flak jackets, guns at the ready.

"I can only imagine what their families are going through," she said of
the hostages. "The fear. It's just not right. Why in the world would
anyone do this?"

On Dec 25, 1:28*am, nospam > wrote:
> A daylong standoff at a small-town Virginia post office ended peacefully
> Wednesday with three hostages set free and a disabled suspect in a
> wheelchair surrendering to police.
>
[snipped a bunch of crap]

You're not attacking Blake. You're attacking every physically
disabled person, and that's pathetic.

Optimist or pessimist?

The good news is that it will be at least 10 months until I get
bombarded with bad Christmas music. The bad news is that it will be
at least 10 months until I get to hear GOOD Christmas music. The
ratio between Angels We Have Heard On High and Jingle Bell Rock, or
the ratio between Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem sung beautifully, and
horrible versions of Deck the Halls has been a bummer this year.

--Bryan

"--Bryan" > wrote in message
...
>
> The good news is that it will be at least 10 months until I get
> bombarded with bad Christmas music. The bad news is that it will be
> at least 10 months until I get to hear GOOD Christmas music. The
> ratio between Angels We Have Heard On High and Jingle Bell Rock, or
> the ratio between Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem sung beautifully, and
> horrible versions of Deck the Halls has been a bummer this year.
>
> --Bryan

Merry Christmas, Bobo!

--Bryan wrote:

> The good news is that it will be at least 10 months until I get
> bombarded with bad Christmas music. The bad news is that it will be
> at least 10 months until I get to hear GOOD Christmas music. The
> ratio between Angels We Have Heard On High and Jingle Bell Rock, or
> the ratio between Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem sung beautifully, and
> horrible versions of Deck the Halls has been a bummer this year.
>
> --Bryan


I bought a new car two weeks ago and it has XM radio. They have two
stations (4 and 74) playing holiday music and both are very good. One is
more of the classical stuff with chorale groups, the other more traditional
with Como, Williams, Fitzgerald. . Neither has a barking dog or chipmunk.

On Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:28:50 -0800, nospam > wrote:

<snip>

So who posts from Atlanta?
nospam > does

Ed wrote:

> I bought a new car two weeks ago and it has XM radio. They have two
> stations (4 and 74) playing holiday music and both are very good. One is
> more of the classical stuff with chorale groups, the other more
> traditional with Como, Williams, Fitzgerald. . Neither has a barking dog
> or chipmunk.

I downloaded a bunch of Christmas songs from
alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.christmas, put them onto a thumb drive which I
plugged into a spare USB port on my laptop, and ran the stereo output of my
laptop into the auxiliary input of my (aged but awesome) stereo system. I've
been listening to FANTASTIC stuff, some of which I'd never heard before.

Bob

Asshole/butt****ing/cock sucking Robridesontheknob wrote:

<SNIP>

Guess I touched a nerve huh? You had to defend your homo butt-****
buddy. Since no legs cannot do it herself. How many ass rides did you
get for that huh faggot?

On Fri, 25 Dec 2009 19:54:35 -0800, nospam > wrote:

>Guess I touched a nerve huh?

No, just how completly ignorant you are.

On Sat, 26 Dec 2009 08:23:46 -0600, WTF > wrote:

>On Fri, 25 Dec 2009 19:54:35 -0800, nospam > wrote:
>
>>Guess I touched a nerve huh?
>
>No, just how completly ignorant you are.

By the way, it's sad that you have to use cox.net to hide who you are, you're
nothing more than spineless.