This article is about a breaking news situation. Initial reports may be inaccurate or incomplete.
9:15 p.m.: Report was false
Richmond Police Department is telling WWN that the hostage report was false and that the situation is now over.
It appears that a live Google Earth feed allowed a hoax caller to create and then watch the police response for nearly four hours, according to Major Adam Blanton.
RPD learned about the Google Earth stream that provided a view of the entire street. They shut it down, and the suspect began providing false information, including about a helicopter arriving, Blanton said. With the stream shut down and all of the buildings checked, streets began reopening shortly before 9 p.m. as officers cleared from the scene.
Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, Randolph County Sheriff’s SWAT team, Indiana State Police and Richmond Fire Department assisted at the scene. Centerville Police Department covered other Richmond calls during the nearly four-hour period.
Original Report
Richmond Police Department is clearing buildings in the 700 block of East Main Street on Tuesday evening, trying to verify that a man was holding seven hostages at knifepoint.
Major Adam Blanton, the department’s public information officer, told WWN that a call was received at 5:02 p.m. from the suspect, who demanded $100,000 in ransom. The department set up a perimeter, closing the roads in several blocks of East Main Street.
The suspect was in contact with RPD negotiators by phone, but Blanton said he provided only generic information. To ensure safety, officers began asking building occupants to evacuate. By 8 p.m., Blanton said all of the south side of the 700 block had been cleared and only two buildings remained to be cleared on the street’s north side.
At that point, Blanton said the incident could be a false report made to generate a police response, known as swatting. RPD planned to involve the Federal Bureau of Investigation in an investigation.