Mysterious Hostage Standoff on Duval: A Hoax
by Naja and Arnaud Girard…….
Developing story…
A hoax…
Key West police shut down the 800 block of Duval Street at about 7 p.m. last night amid reports of a “possibly armed person” having barricaded himself inside a bed and breakfast. According to police spokesperson, Alyson Crean, a man had called police claiming he had knifed a woman in the chest and abdomen, had a shotgun, and had taken his teenage niece hostage.
Police Chief Donie Lee directed the operation from KWPD’s Mobile Command Post stationed on Olivia Street.
Key West officers, State Troopers, Border Patrol, FWC, and Key West firefighters had the hotel surrounded. The police Special Response Team [SWAT team] was on scene along with a police hostage negotiator.
Update:
From Alyson Crean, spokesperson for KWPD:
“Police immediately responded by setting a perimeter around the hotel, evacuating guests and nearby businesses, and diverting traffic from the area to ensure everyone’s safety. A hostage negotiator was brought on scene to try and diffuse the situation. The caller contacted police several more times throughout the ensuing hours, apparently responding to police communications through a bullhorn. During this time, officers were slowly checking the area, clearing rooms in the hotel as they went.
After making no progress with the caller, police decided to bring in the Special Response Team to tactically clear the remaining rooms so that the guests could return to the hotel. The team found no evidence of the caller or his alleged victims. The hotel was deemed safe, and around 2 a.m. guests were able to go back to their rooms.
Key West Police Detectives are continuing to investigate the source of the call.”
Donie Lee and his jackboots strike again. How much more embarrassment can this man and his clown show of a department impart on Key West without consequence?
and he has a “mobile command center?” seriously? if these thugs weren’t so dangerous and vicious, they would make a terrific comedy reality show.
“Key West officers, State Troopers, Border Patrol, FWC, and Key West firefighters had the hotel surrounded. The police Special Response Team [SWAT team] was on scene along with a police hostage negotiator.”
a tad overkill I would think. but then again lets be grateful no one was killed by some rogue key-stoned cops.
I live two blocks from the Duval House and considering the alleged gravity of the situation, I feel that the police showed restraint and handled it well.
Naja, I wrote a comment and thought I submitted it, but it’s not showing in moderation; perhaps I didn’t send it, someone came along and wanted to talk about something else just as I was about to send it.
Summing what I wrote: if this is a prank, and it catches on, it could paralyze KWPD. But perhaps it is not a prank, perhaps it is retaliation against KWPD by someone unhappy with KWPD, for a personal bad encounter with KWPD, or, say, over how the Matthew Murphy case, or other KWPD cases went, and IA, the police chief, the city manager and the mayor and city commissioners backed the police all the way. What if whoever did it, keeps doing it. What if it catches on? Can brief cell phone calls to 911 be traced? Can such a person be caught. Or such persons? I could see a serious disruption in KWPD, if this catches on. Some might view that as karma.
It would take me a while to describe my various dreams last night about this incident, but the bottom line of the dreams was: the person who made the 911 call was a Christian upset about the city putting the gays’ rainbows on the sidewalks at the intersection of Duval and Petronia, and also over the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision granting gays the right to marry.
Regardless, the 911 caller has let the cat ouf of the bag in Key West, and now remains to be seen if there will be any copycats.
I spoke with a young man this morning, who knows a bit about cell phones, GPSs, computers, etc. He said he was pretty sure the perp’s cell phone could be located by GPS, if it was not destroyed or the battery removed, and he wondered if the police ever tried to determine with GPS where the caller was physically located?
I said, anyone could go to K-mart and by a tract phone for $25 and a cheap phone card, and pay cash, and later use that phone to make a fake 911 call, then throw the phone away and not get caught if he/she didn’t tell anyone else about it. The young man said a person also could buy a cheap cell phone and card at a convenience store service station.