Pittsburgh Police Handling Hostage Situation
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Comstock/ThinkstockUPDATE: The Pennsylvania military veteran who held a CEO hostage in downtown Pittsburgh today has surrendered and turned himself in to police custody.
(PITTSBURGH) — An armed military veteran who says he has a bomb is holding one man hostage in a downtown Pittsburgh office building this morning.
Police have not been able to verify why the man, 22-year-old Klein Michael Thaxton, is there or what kind of weapons he has with him. The SWAT team is assisting the Pittsburgh police department with hostage negotiations.
Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper said that Thaxton is a military veteran with a criminal background. Thaxton’s mother arrived at the scene this morning and was escorted inside by police, he said.
Harper said that Thaxton is negotiating with police and being “cooperative.”
No shots have been fired, and the building was not evacuated. Workers in the office — CW Breitsman Associates, LLC, which handles pensions and benefit plans for workers — are allowed to leave voluntarily but not reenter the building.
Thaxton is not an employee of the company, and police do not know why he took the man hostage, Harper said.
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