Georgia Hostage Taker: He Wanted His Lights On, So SWAT Turned His Off

A man in Suwanee, Georgia a suburb of Atlanta, took four firemen hostage during what was believed to be a routine ambulance call. The unnamed suspects home was in foreclosure and recently his electricity, telephone, and cable had been shut off. The suspect reportedly further "[demanded] they be turned back on."

The call came in about 3:40 p.m. for a possible heart attack victim. Explosions caused by flash-bang grenades used to distract the victim were reportedly heard 7:30 p.m.

He originally took five hostages but let one leave to move the fire truck. Which seems to indicates he was being co-operative.

The current spin is the firefighters are relieved their ordeal is over.

So, four hostages and the suspect, a guy down on his luck, were in a bad situation. Why in the hell, if all he was demanding was for his services to be turned back, on didn’t someone use their brains and call the utility companies and have them switched on? Once the hostages were released and the situation defused, they could have shut the power back off.

Was the Gwinnett County Police Department SWAT team simply craving a real life drill?  Was it because the victim was making "demands"? Does anyone use common sense anymore in a situation like this?

Police said "He was calling the shots."

Articles have failed to say if the man's death was a suicide or the result of SWAT team gunfire.

Instead, the man wanted his lights turned on so now his lights have been snuffed his out. Maybe getting the cable turned on was too much for the negotiator.