UPDATE: A man who took eight people hostage at a workers' compensation office in Edmonton had told his friends he wanted to settle a score with the agency after his benefits were cut off.

Armed with a rifle, he entered the building of the Workers' Compensation Board yesterday morning and took hostages _ sending hundreds of people fleeing as others barricaded themselves inside offices.

After almost 10 hours of drama and intense negotiations, the hostages were released. A man was taken into custody.

Neighbours at the assisted-living facility where the gunman lived watched the situation and worried. His friend, Don Bellerose, said the man was under a great deal of stress and once threatened to jump off a bridge into the North Saskatchewan River.

Police did not identify the man taken into custody though several media outlets reported he is Patrick Clayton, 38. He's been described as a carpenter who was out of work because of an injury. (The Canadian Press, ccg)

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Edmonton Police say a hostage-taking incident that started about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, has ended.

 

Police say it was a peaceful conclusion to the drama that lasted close to 10 hours, outside the Worker's Compensation Board building, near 106th Street and 99th Avenue.

 

Police say a man surrendered without incident. No hostages were harmed.

 

Police credit the work of their hostage-negotiating team for bringing about a peaceful end to this.

 

"We just were talking to him, making sure the hostages get out safely," says Insp. Terry Rocchio. "And, we have a concern for him to get out safely. That's why we have a system that we developed to make sure he came out."

Police say there were "about eight" hostages at one point, but only one at the time of the surrender.

 

No details were made known about the alleged gunman as of 8 p.m., Wednesday.(bp)
 

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A specially trained Edmonton Police Hostage negotiator continues to talk by telephone with a man who is holding several people at gunpoint in a conference room at the downtown Workers Compensation Building.

When he entered the building minutes after 8:30 a.m., he fired a shot in the lobby of the building on 107th Street north of 99th Avenue but no one was injured. The man is armed with a high power hunting rifle.

The man is wearing a camouflage jacket and carrying a backpack. He has told police he is "mad at the world" and blames a WCB doctor for most of his trouble. The man and his hostages are believed to be in a conference room on the upper floor of the building. He told the police negotiator he wanted cigarettes and some water - promising to release one of his hostages in exchange. It's not known if that exchange has taken place.

The man has been asking for a Worker's Compensation Board doctor he blames for "screwing up his life."

 

A man, who says he's a friend of the suspect and who lives in the same assisted living facility in Edmonton, says he had a knee injury, and had been fighting with the WCB. Don Bellerose also says the man had been involved in a child custody dispute in the two months that he's known him. Bellerose says he spoke to the man early Wednesday morning.

 

"I believe that when people get in that state," said Bellerose, Wednesday afternoon, "they don't offer much information."

Police have isolated a large area around the WCB building on 107th Street north of 99th Avenue while they deal with the gunman.

Our reporter on scene has seen dozens of people being evacuated from the building and from surrounding buildings.

Evacuated employees were moved to nearby Alberta government buildings and the Legislative grounds. Our reporter at the Legislature says police have addressed the evacuees. Police telling them the man is contained on the 8th floor and that everyone is safe. ETS buses are being brought in to move the evacuees to another location.

Others left the building a little later on, and told their story to iNews880.

 

"We were told to close it, lock it, and barricade it," says one woman, who works on the fifth floor of the WCB building. "A few of us were using our cell phones to call people, and to see if there was something on the news."

 

She and the others on her floor were eventually escorted out by members of the SWAT team.

The Worker's Compensation Board can't confirm how many people are being held hostage, or who the hostages are. Dayna Therien speaks for the WCB.

She says there's no indication that anybody has been harmed physically. But, she realizes the board will have to deal with the trauma later, with anyone who was in the building. "We'll absolutely be working with our staff. Right now we've evacuated one of our buildings. We have them safe and taken care of. We'll obviously have some on-going issues to deal with to make sure that everyone feels safe going forward."

Therien says more than 700 people work in the building. (EM,bp,ly,ls,sj,blb)

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UPDATE: iReporter Cindy submitted the above pic's while locked down Lethbridge Building