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March 28, 2024

Police: Hostage-taker surrenders in Pittsburgh

Hostage

Gene J. Puskar / AP

Police block off the area around Three Gateway Center, building left rear, where they are negotiating with a man who claims to have a bomb, in downtown Pittsburgh Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. A call about an armed man inside the building prompted an evacuation amid reports of a hostage situation.

Updated Friday, Sept. 21, 2012 | 11:23 a.m.

PITTSBURGH — An armed man who took a hostage inside a downtown Pittsburgh office building has surrendered to police.

Police Chief Nate Harper says the suspect gave himself up after posting Facebook updates in the early hours of the standoff saying he had "lost everything." Harper says the hostage is OK.

Police identified the hostage-taker as Klein Michael Thaxton. Harper had said Thaxton had a military background and was suicidal.

The standoff began Friday morning inside the 16th-floor office of a benefits administration firm.

Harper says Thaxton was cooperative but made no demands.

Thaxton's friends had responded to his Facebook posts by urging him to end the situation peacefully, including one who asked him to think of his mother.

The Facebook page was later taken down.