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Authorities to review what led to unfounded hostage report

A Missouri Highway Patrol helicopter flies over downtown Jefferson City on Tuesday morning as reporters wait behind a police line for information about a reported hostage situation at the Governor Office Building, which turned out to be a false alarm. (Kelley McCall/News Tribune photo)

By Chris Blank, The Associated Press

Published: Friday, November 13, 2009 5:59 AM CST

State officials said Thursday that the investigation is ongoing into what led to an unfounded report of a hostage situation in Jefferson City at the Governor Office Building, 200 Madison St., just south of the Governor's Mansion.

The former Governor Hotel building, which houses the Missouri Public Service Commission and other agencies, was locked down for several hours Tuesday after a report of a hostage situation on the fifth floor.

Police searched office by office and found nothing unusual.

Commission Chairman Robert Clayton said Thursday that employees' statements will be used for an internal report, but it appeared so far that they behaved properly. Employees also have been asked to evaluate the commission's response and suggest improvements.

Capt. Mike Smith, the Jefferson City Police spokesman, said Thursday that the investigation is ongoing and no further information was available.

Sonitrol, the security company providing service in the Governor Office Building, said through its public relations office in the Chicago area that it, too, had no comment while the investigations -- its own and the law enforcement probes -- continued.

Commissioners started a regular meeting Thursday by thanking emergency responders for their work earlier this week. Discussion of some agenda items was delayed because of Tuesday's disruption.

A woman has told police that on Tuesday morning she heard a warning through an elevator speaker about a hostage situation on the building's fifth floor and then told a higher-ranking employee. Clayton said it's believed the statement was heard in a service elevator and that it's possible a different employee in a different elevator at a different time also heard the warning.

The higher-ranking employee then contacted Sonitrol to get more information about the statement, Clayton said.

"As I understand it, the employees that were involved at the start, basically one reported it to a higher authority in the building and that person inquired, raised some questions," he said. "And as it looks right now, it appears that it was done in an appropriate manner. Not in an alarmist, but just basically matter of fact, 'this is going on what does it mean, what action should be taken?"'

Clayton said just before the statement was reportedly heard in the elevator, a group of people had left an employee of the month event on the fifth floor and reported seeing nothing unusual.

The alarm company notified Jefferson City Police around 10 a.m., and police responded in force. Several blocks were cordoned off, a Missouri State Highway Patrol helicopter circled and police officers with guns patrolled downtown buildings.

Police Capt. Doug Shoemaker, who was one of the first responding officers, told reporters Tuesday that he also heard a warning over an intercom telling workers to avoid the fifth floor because of a hostage situation. Shoemaker described it as a female, human voice.

Clayton said the commission used an internal public address system shortly after 10 a.m. to tell employees to remain in their offices and not to allow movement between the building's floors. He said there was no mention of "hostage" in that statement.


More budget cuts anticipated		Benefit for Olten memorial fund slated Sunday

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Thanks.

aswell wrote on Nov 14, 2009 1:18 AM:

" not just local jurisdiction ,Kansas city office FBI was on site ,between them all they will find who instigated a long weekend, and thanks madisons cafe for the space too work with the locals. "

sandhouse wrote on Nov 13, 2009 2:36 PM:

" Under all that taxpayer bought kevlar you LEO folks got some really thin skin....Who would have guessed.

LOL

Not that it matters....but I can absolutely guarantee I pay more taxes than ANY LEO in this area.
Everyone knows that local LEO is underpaid.....that's why the quality is so low. "

misshoneybee wrote on Nov 13, 2009 2:32 PM:

" Rocky! LOL--I CAN'T believe you SAID that! Oh my goodness! It was funny but kinda mean...I like sandhouse--he/she has always been nice to me. "

JThomas wrote on Nov 13, 2009 2:15 PM:

" Yeah RockyV, that WAS pretty funny! Ha! "

maiximista wrote on Nov 13, 2009 1:53 PM:

" RockyV wrote on Nov 13, 2009 1:20 PM:

" Sandhouse,
Get a life we waste more money paying for your foodstamps than we did that day all together! "

Rocky - THANK YOU FOR MAKING MY FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "

RockyV wrote on Nov 13, 2009 1:20 PM:

" Sandhouse,
Get a life we waste more money paying for your foodstamps than we did that day all together! "

misshoneybee wrote on Nov 13, 2009 1:16 PM:

" Jefferson City Police Department, Cole County Sheriff's Department, and Missouri State Highway Patrol--Acted as one cohesive, cooperative law enforcement unit! One CLASS ACT! "

areyoukidding? wrote on Nov 13, 2009 1:14 PM:

" livininmo, let's go ahead and leave the tatics to the tactical experts. An actve shooter scenario is treated completely different than a hostage taker who has not fired a shot. Again, leave the tactics to experts. "

truthseeker wrote on Nov 13, 2009 1:05 PM:

" I too get a little sick of hearing people in this community bash our LE. They are dammed if they do and dammed if they dont. I am very happy that this turned out to not be the real thing and do not feel that they should have responded any other way. This can be viewed as a mock drill and lessons can be learned by LE of what they did right and what they may need more training etc on. Personally since I have a spouse that works in one of the state buildings it makes me feel that if something were to actually happen LE would do everything they could to keep the workers and public safe. "

mommyof2 wrote on Nov 13, 2009 12:46 PM:

" Living - how do you know nothing was done during that time frame? "

LivinInMo wrote on Nov 13, 2009 12:14 PM:

" I too am glad that law enforcement responded quickly to the scene. What bothers me is that from 10:30 until noon, basically nothing happened. If someone had truly been hurt, they could have died before anyone ever even found them. I just don't understand why LE didn't do the sweep immediately? As many people as they had on the ground, NO ONE would have left that building without being seen and stopped. I'm just curious about the timetable. "

overqualified wrote on Nov 13, 2009 12:11 PM:

" I don't want to hear anyone saying this was a waste. If everyone hadn't reacted exactly as they had and there WAS a life threatening situation here, they would have been crucified. Probably by the same people whining about this 'waste' of taxpayer money. I'll just congratulate LE on a job well done and thank my lucky stars that there wasn't a hostage situation "

mommyof2 wrote on Nov 13, 2009 11:57 AM:

" momof1. I couldn't agree with you more. I would rather pay for one false alarm, then to have our law enforcement scrutinized (sp) about something they did or didn't do in a real situation. I believe protocol was followed (by the supervisor) 100%. Now, if this were a real situation, and she had not called Sonitrol, the whole world would be pointing their finger at her. I believe she did what she was trained to do, as well as law enforcement. "

momof1 wrote on Nov 13, 2009 11:23 AM:

" To be perfectly honest, I don't really care how much this whole thing costs or if I'm paying for it with my tax money. Our law enforcement did NOT know it was a false alarm. They received a call from a security company and acted accordingly to make sure everyone in the building and in the area were safe. I am glad to know that law enforcement acted so swiftly and took every precaution to ensure a safe outcome. Law enforcement did not know it was a false alarm until investigating very carefully. I truly believe the media and rumors are what blew this whole thing out of control, not law enforcement. "

maiximista wrote on Nov 13, 2009 11:10 AM:

" Sandhouse, the fact that a hostage situation was reported (regardless of whether it actually existed) makes me feel like the manpower given to the situation was not a waste of taxpayer dollars. Had the report been legitimate, the fast action of our LE could have saved many lives. Your personal grudge against government (and in this case, LE) really gets old after a while. Why don't you spin for the rest of us what you think they should have done when this call came in? "

sandhouse wrote on Nov 13, 2009 9:09 AM:

" Will a breakdown of the costs of this flop and twitch be included??

Or does nobody care because it was just tax money that was wasted. "

gofish wrote on Nov 13, 2009 8:55 AM:

" Very happy to see the post incident investigation happening and hope that this will include an internal analysis of the coordinated, multi-agency response as well.

I believe that due to the lack of microscopic analysis that the entire community emergency response, including other involved agencies, in addition to LE, that the response went well. However, there are always "lessons to be learned" and I appreciate knowing that the entire scope of the situation will be reviewed for some time. "

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