A Bristol, Tenn., man accused of holding three people hostage in a Wytheville, Va., post office was indicted Thursday on federal charges of attempted murder and kidnapping.
Warren A. Taylor, 53, faces six charges stemming from the Dec. 23 standoff with police. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life, U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy said in a written statement.
The charges were: one count of attempted murder; three counts of kidnapping; one count of discharging a firearm during the commission of a federal crime; and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
“This event could have had a violent, unhappy ending,” Heaphy said in the statement. “Because of the professionalism and skill of federal, state and local investigators, that outcome was avoided when the hostages were released and Mr. Taylor apprehended without violence.”
Just two days before Christmas, authorities converged on downtown Wytheville, moments after reports of gunshots and a man with a bomb at the post office.
The bomb was fake, police said, but the four guns taken inside were real, as evidenced by bullet holes shot through the post office window.
Officers arrested Taylor, a Vietnam veteran and registered sex offender, following an 8½-hour standoff that began at 2:30 p.m. and eventually led to a delivery of pizza, drinks and cigarettes to the post office.
The attempted murder charge stems from shots fired at Postmaster Terry Clark, according to witness accounts. Clark escaped unharmed through the back of the building.
The kidnapping charges stem from the hostage situation involving Wythe County resident and retired U.S. Army paratrooper James Oliver, postal worker Margie Austin, and Doug Robinson.
Austin told the Wytheville Enterprise that moments after the first shots were fired, Taylor grabbed her by the neck and ordered her to call 911 on a cell phone. That’s when Taylor, after spotting a police officer standing outside with a gun drawn, shot twice out a window, Austin said.
The hostages said Taylor spent that night ranting about his hatred of the federal government and anger at President Barack Obama.
mowens@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2549
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement