A man suspected of holding at least one hostage in a Pittsburgh office tower has been apparently updating his Facebook account as the drama unfolds.
The man, identified by the police as Klein Michael Thaxton, 22, went into the office tower at the Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh just after 8 a.m. There, at CW Breitsman Associates, a company that administers pension plans on the 16th floor of the high-rise, he took at least one person hostage. The police said that they had sent teams to the location to try to negotiate with him.
Nate Harper, Pittsburgh's police chief, said that Mr. Thaxton might be armed with a gun and a bomb. “No one has been hurt at this time,†he said. “There were no shots fired.â€
A profile page in Mr. Thaxaton's name on Facebook shows a self-made photograph of a man's muscular torso, super-imposed on a backdrop of images of the faces of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Israel's prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu flanking that of President Barack Obama.
At around 9 a.m., one status update read: “welln pops youll never have to woryy about me again you'll nevr need to by me anything no need to ever waste ur hard earned money on me. i'll live n jail you dnt want me around anymore thats kool bye…i love u assata sis
Another said: “i cant take it no more im done bro.â€
Chief Harper said Mr. Thaxton had walked into the office and “started asking questions about an individual.†He added that it was not clear who the individual was or what the person's relationship was with the suspect.
Some readers of the Facebook page, which had about 566 friends, posted ba ck, some of them mocking, while a few were trying to help.
“there's always a storm before a blessing baby its never as bad as it seems if u didn't have a purpose n life then u wouldn't b here your mom loves u and I'm sure it'll kill her to lose her baby.â€
Speaking to reporters, the police chief said: “We're willing to talk as long as it will take to resolve this in a safe and orderly fashion.â€
