Police have identified 22-year-old Klein Michael Thaxton as the suspect in a hostage situation in a Pittsburgh high-rise building that ended peacefully at about 1:50 p.m. Friday after beginning just after 8 a.m.
Thaxton was updating his Facebook page, offering friends, family and law enforcement a glimpse into his disturbed frame of mind, until it was apparently pulled offline around 1 p.m.
Before the page was removed, Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper told reporters that officials were embracing Thaxton's updates. "It is showing the people are concerned about his well being," he said. "It is beneficial."
According to police, Thaxton took hostage the owner of CW Breitsman Associates, whom Thaxton doesn't know, on the 16th floor of 3 Gateway Center. Thaxton apparently claimed to have a bomb and a gun.
Here, a series of statuses Thaxton posted. It seems that he tried to explain his reasoning — something about a father wasting "hard earned money on me" — while his friends pled with him to let the hostage go.
