Hostage-taker surrenders in Pittsburgh

Police: Hostage-taker surrenders in Pittsburgh
The Associated Press and staff reports
Posted : Friday Sep 21, 2012 14:11:23 EDT

PITTSBURGH — An armed suicidal man who held a businessman hostage inside a downtown Pittsburgh office building for more than five hours Friday, posting Facebook updates during the standoff, surrendered to authorities without incident, police said.

Klein Michael Thaxton, 22, surrendered just before 2 p.m., and the man he took hostage was unhurt, Police Chief Nathan Harper said.

The hostage-taking on the 16th floor of Three Gateway Center prompted an evacuation while Thaxton wrote on Facebook that he had "lost everything" and that people didn't have to worry about him anymore.

His friends responded by urging him to end the situation peacefully, including one who asked him to think of his mother.

An Army spokesman said Thaxton enlisted in the Army in December 2008 and separated from the service in June 2010. The spokesman said Thaxton, who was never deployed, was a private with the 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.

He was a combat engineer.
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