Friday, January 22, 2010
Wytheville post office standoff suspect indicted on 6 federal counts
Warren "Gator" Taylor of Tennessee is accused of holding three people hostage in a post office for nine hours last month.
Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times
Related
Previous coverage
- Hostage relied on military background
- Man charged in 9-hour standoff
- Wytheville suspect has a 'mean streak', criminal history
- Curious about the robot police used to greet Wytheville post office hostage suspect?
- Suspect in custody after 8-hour standoff
- BREAKING NEWS: 8.5-hour standoff at Wytheville post office ends with three hostages released, suspect in custody
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A man accused of holding hostages in the downtown Wytheville post office during a tense, pre-Christmas standoff was indicted Thursday on federal charges of kidnapping, attempted murder and firearms violations.
Warren Aubrey "Gator" Taylor, 53, of Sullivan County, Tenn., was arrested late Dec. 23, about nine hours after pushing his wheelchair into the post office, announcing he had a bomb and firing a shot at the postmaster.
The postmaster and others in the building escaped unharmed, but Taylor held a postal supervisor and two customers captive as he ordered pizza and carried on long telephone conversations with negotiators from the Wythe County Sheriff's Office and FBI. Ultimately, he let his hostages go and rolled out of the post office in his wheelchair to surrender.
Officers found what was described as a mock explosive device, but no actual bombs in or near the post office.
At an initial appearance in federal court on Christmas Eve, Taylor apologized for making so many people come out so near the holiday.
In all, Taylor faces six federal counts: three kidnapping charges that each carry the possibility of life in prison, attempted murder, use of a firearm in committing a felony and being a felon in possession of a gun.
In a statement released Thursday, U.S. Attorney Tim Heaphy praised the multiagency response to Taylor's actions. "This event could have had a violent, unhappy ending," Heaphy said, but for the professionalism of the officers who surrounded the post office.
"I promise that we will match their professionalism in our pursuit of a just resolution of the criminal charges filed today," Heaphy said.
According to an investigator's statement filed last month in federal court, Taylor told officers he had a long-standing, growing anger at the federal government that ultimately led him to pack guns and a mock bomb and drive north from Tennessee. His target was Roanoke, according to the statement, but after getting tired of driving, he stopped in Wytheville for food and gas, then decided to "end it" at the post office.
A federal magistrate judge last month ordered that Taylor undergo a mental evaluation.
Thursday's statement from the U.S. attorney's office said Taylor had a Glock .40-caliber handgun, a North American Arms .22-caliber revolver, a Taurus .17-caliber revolver and a Taurus .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol. Prosecutors are seeking a forfeiture order to take those weapons.
