Court documents: Standoff suspect angry at government

The Bristol, Tenn., man accused of taking three hostages at a Wytheville post office had grown increasingly angry with the federal government when he packed his vehicle with handguns and fake explosive devices, according to federal court documents filed Thursday.

The records state that Warren Taylor, 43, admitted to law enforcement officials that he held the three people hostage Wednesday and that he fired a handgun numerous times inside the post office before surrendering peacefully after an 8 1/2 hour standoff. The hostages were unharmed.

“We’re just grateful it ended peacefully,” Virginia State Police Sgt. Michael Conroy said. “This is just the best outcome we could hope for.”

Taylor, who has an artificial leg, told the officials he had been planning such an action “for months or years,” and stated that his motive was “his growing anger toward the federal government about a variety of issues,” the court records state.

On Thursday, Taylor was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, and a magistrate judge appointed a public defender to represent him. The judge also ordered that Taylor undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial by February.

FBI negotiators had been talking with Taylor throughout Wednesday evening, and a state trooper delivered food to the door, which was picked up by one of the hostages. Originally, Wytheville Mayor Trent Crewe said five hostages were taken. Later, he said some of the people thought missing had been accounted for.

After hours and hours of little activity on a night that was growing colder, at about 11 p.m., authorities using a bullhorn told the suspect: “Come out with your hands up.”

Soon after, one by one, the hostages walked down about 20 steps in front of the building, their hands in the air. As they came closer to police, they lifted their shirts to show they had no weapons.

After three hostages left the building one by one, Taylor followed, wheeling down a ramp. A bomb-sniffing robot examined him and he also lifted his shirt.

Taylor, a heavyset man wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, then got out of the wheelchair under his own power and lay down face-first on the cold concrete. He got back up and was taken away in a police vehicle.

“It proves it can happen anywhere at anytime,” Crewe said. “Why he picked here, I don’t know.”

Vague answers to that and other questions emerged after law enforcement officials arrested and interviewed Taylor.

An affidavit by postal inspector J. David McKinney states that Taylor intended to travel to Roanoke, but stopped in Wytheville for gasoline and food.

“He stated that he then made a decision to ‘end it’ ” at the Wytheville post office, McKinney wrote.

Taylor entered the post office about 2:30 p.m. and fired several rounds, taking one postal employee and two customers hostage. He then called 911 and stated that he possessed explosives, the affidavit states.

“The gunman indicated during the course of his communications with law enforcement personnel that if he was shot, the explosives would detonate,” McKinney wrote.

Taylor did not have explosives, though federal, state and local law enforcement officials recovered four handguns, the court records state.

The standoff injected fear into the town, which was decked out for Christmas with shoppers crowding its downtown when the reports of gunshots were heard.

Police advised store workers and those in nearby buildings to leave as authorities cordoned off a three-block area surrounding the post office and snipers stood at the ready on some roof tops.

June Daniels could only shake her head as she watched the SWAT members in flak jackets, guns at the ready.

“I can only imagine what their families are going through,” she said of the hostages. “The fear. It’s just not right. Why in the world would anyone do this?”

Her husband, Jim Daniels, 62, a retired coal miner, stood at the police tape watching as the situation unfolded.

Taylor faces charges for possessing a firearm in the commission of a federal crime, unlawfully confining individuals, and possessing a firearm in a federal facility in the commission of a crime.

He is was remanded to custody after Thursday’s hearing.

Media General News Service and The Associated Press contributed to this report.