Four Firefighters Taken Hostage by a Man Demanding His Cable be Turned Back On

Once again, firefighters are being targeted to release the violent angst of somebody’s personal issues. Last December a man ignited his house and then shot the firefighters who arrived on the scene to staunch the flames; this time the disaffected man involved seemed to have faked a heart-attack and then, when firefighters did their duty and showed up to help him, he took them hostage in his suburban Atlanta home. His demands? That his cable and power be turned on. His house, meanwhile, had been in foreclosure and had been bank-owned since mid-November. Apparently the stress of having his resources slowly turned off inspired the desperate act of taking four firefighters hostage.

A SWAT force was sent to secure the firemen, and it seems the firemen resorted to explosives to save their own, as the SWAT team ignited a stun blast of such magnitude that it bruised the firefighters being held. It was aimed to distract the man, but as the SWAT team moved in, one of them was shot in the arm and the hand, and the gunmen himself was fatally shot.

All the firemen involved seemed to be in more or less solid condition, and were soon back with their families.

“It’s an unfortunate circumstance we did not want to end this way,” said Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Edwin Ritter, according to the Huffington Post. “But with the decisions this guy was making, this was his demise.”

“[I talked] to the firefighters and their families just now, they’re relieved,” said the firefighter’s department spokesman. “They’re simply relieved that the situation is over, that their family members are with them and they’re safe.”