Gunman Surrenders in Kansas City

A gunman who opened fire in an office building, injuring one person, then stayed inside for six hours while nearby people cowered behind filing cabinets has put down his gun and surrendered, police said.

Shortly before he came out, three people who had been trapped inside left the building safely, including a man who had been grazed by a bullet.

The gunman, 36, did not offer any resistance, police said. He was escorted out by two police officers and entered a van. He was wearing a brown leather jacket and jeans.

"The negotiators talked to him, they told him nothing was worth losing his life for, taking his own life," Sgt. Floyd Mitchell said. "They eventually got him to drop his gun and come out."

The gunman was terminated from his job Thursday at ARO, a collection agency inside the Penntower office building. On Friday at 8:45 a.m., he fired inside the building, injuring a man, and then staying inside the ARO office while the people were holed up in a nearby room. The agency is on the first floor of the 13-story building, and that's where the shooting happened.

The gunman had been "sectioned off" from others on the first floor following the shooting and was pointing the semiautomatic handgun at himself, Mitchell said.

The three people trapped inside left the Penntower office building were freed when police cut a hole in a wall away from the gunman, on the other side of the room.

As the three left, seven SWAT team police officers went in. The gunman was still talking to police by telephone, Sgt. Floyd Mitchell said.

Sgt. Dave Starbuck, a member of the police negotiating team, would not detail what the man said to police or what his motive could have been, but he said the man was calm.

"Comparing this to ones I've been involved with in the past, he actually was pretty coherent to talk to," Starbuck said. "He was upset about some things, but he was not rambling or babbling."

About 100-150 people had been evacuated from the building by 2 p.m. Police didn't know how many others remained inside.

After the shooting, some offices on upper floors continued doing business more or less as usual until the evacuations started.

Earlier Friday, Nancy Seck, a worker in an employee counseling service, said that from her vantage point on the second floor of the atrium-style building, she could see the man still in the ARO office. She also could see other workers huddled behind filing cabinets nearby.

"It's all torn up. The cabinets are knocked over," she said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

She said the trouble broke out when she heard a commotion and heard an ARO receptionist screaming "Help me! Help me!"

She went outside to look, and saw that the building manager had grabbed the receptionist. The manager shouted to Ms. Seck, "Get back in your office and lock the door!"

Written By Tim Curran
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