Armed Virginia Man in Wheelchair Hostage Standoff

A man in a wheelchair held several people hostage for eight hours in a town in Virginia, US, before surrendering to police. Photo by ITN.co.ukA,

An armed man has held several people hostage for more than eight hours in the American town of Whiteville, Virginia on Thursday.

The man has been identified as Warren Gator, from Tennessee. It was reported that he had entered the local post office in a wheelchair, with about 2 kgs of explosives strapped around his waist, and taken some three to five people hostage.

Throughout the eight-hour drama, he made no demands other than to ask for a pizza.

Police had cordoned off the area when they were informed the man was carrying explosives. After prolonged negotiations with Gator, he eventually surrendered to the police, and the hostages were freed unharmed.

According to a police spokesman at the scene, the man’s motives remained unclear, nor could the exact number of hostages be ascertained at the time. The spokesman declined to comment on media reports of explosives.

He added that it was not even clear whether the man was, in fact, disabled, or whether he had used the wheelchair as some ploy.

Gator has now been detained by the local security forces.

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