Police say that an armed man claiming to have a bomb is currently holding a hostage on the 16th floor of a high-rise building in Pittsburgh. Authorities say they’ve been in touch with the man, who they’ve IDed as 22-year-old Klein Michael Thaxton, but that so far he hasn’t given them much information. He may be, however, providing updates via social media.
Reuters explains that a man who appeared to be Thaxton has been posting messages to Facebook since mid-morning. A sampling: “how this ends is up to yall”; “I can’t take it no more”; and “this life I’m livn rite now i dnt want anymore ive lost everything and i aint getting it back”.
The New York Times, meanwhile, describes Thaxton’s profile:
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.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the hostage is Charles Breitsman, the founder of the firm that occupies the suite where Thaxton is currently holed up.
UPDATE 5:13 p.m.: The suspect has surrendered and his hostage is safe, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
