Pittsburgh hostage crisis: Police negotiate with man in high-rise

Pittsburgh police on Friday were negotiating with a man who said he had a bomb and was holding at least one hostage in a noted downtown office complex, officials said.

No shots have been fired and no injuries have been reported during the standoff, which began after 8 a.m. Eastern, police said.

In a televised news conference, Police Chief Nate Harper said the man entered the downtown office building, Three Gateway Center, and went by elevator to the 16th floor. There he entered a suite of offices used by CW Breitsman Associates, LLC, a firm that helps administer other companies’ insurance and benefits claims.

The man has taken at least one hostage and perhaps two, Harper said.

“We are negotiating with that individual,” the chief said. “We are willing to talk as long as it takes to resolve this in a safe and orderly fashion.”

Harper said there was no immediate motive.

Nor was it known what weapons, if any, the man had.

He claimed to have a bomb, but that has not been independently confirmed, the chief said.

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