Possible Hostage Situation in Jefferson City

KOMU is reporting that portions of downtown Jefferson City have been shut down due to a possible hostage situation in the Governor’s Building on Madison Street.

State employees in the building say police officers are outside patroling the area with assault rifles. The area is locked down. Follow KOMU online and on Twitter for updates.

A viewer called KOMU to say a hostage situation took place in 5th floor of the Governor’s Building on Madison Street. Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder is sending accounts from his Twitter account saying snipers are on the roof of the Jefferson Building and negotiators are on the scene to speak with a suspect in the hostage situation. A person working on the 6th floor of the building says there is a possible hostage situation in the floor below.

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From KRCG

KRCG has talked with a person inside the Governor Office Building. He says someone over the intercom instructed everyone to stay in their offices.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon does NOT have an office at this building. The Governor Office Building used to be a hotel called the “Governor Hotel” when it was renovated into an office building it retained its moniker.

The building houses the Missouri Office of Prosecution Services, Public Service Commission, Office of Public Counsel and the Missouri Development Finance Board.

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NY Times Reporter Tells His Story – Held by the Taliban

Today the New York Times launched the first installment in a five-part series offering a first-person account by reporter David Rohde, of his seven months as a captive of the Taliban in Pakistan. Mr. Rohde was kidnapped with two Afghan colleagues on Nov. 10, 2008, as they traveled to an interview with a Taliban commander outside of Kabul, Afghanistan.

Rohde and Afghan reporter Tahir Ludin, 35, you might remember,escaped their captors by climbing over the wall of a compound where they were held in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan.

The articles are based on Mr. Rohde’s recollections and, where possible, records kept by his family and colleagues. For safety reasons, certain names and details have been withheld.

The car’s engine roared as the gunman punched the accelerator and we crossed into the open Afghan desert. I was seated in the back between two Afghan colleagues who were accompanying me on a reporting trip when armed men surrounded our car and took us hostage.

Another gunman in the passenger seat turned and stared at us as he gripped his Kalashnikov rifle. No one spoke. I glanced at the bleak landscape outside — reddish soil and black boulders as far as the eye could see — and feared we would be dead within minutes.

It was last Nov. 10, and I had been headed to a meeting with a Taliban commander along with an Afghan journalist, Tahir Luddin, and our driver, Asad Mangal. The commander had invited us to interview him outside Kabul for reporting I was pursuing about Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The longer I looked at the gunman in the passenger seat, the more nervous I became. His face showed little emotion. His eyes were dark, flat and lifeless.

I thought of my wife and family and was overcome with shame. An interview that seemed crucial hours earlier now seemed absurd and reckless. I had risked the lives of Tahir and Asad — as well as my own life. We reached a dry riverbed and the car stopped. “They’re going to kill us,” Tahir whispered. “They’re going to kill us.”

via Read The Full First Installmemt.

Taliban Waits For US Reply Before Deciding Soldiers Fate

A militant commander who is holding a U.S. soldier abducted in Afghanistan said Sunday that Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s council is waiting for a response to its demands before deciding the American’s fate. It was the first news of Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, made public since a Taliban video was released July 18.

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