Bizarre Bomb Threats

Okay this is bizarre. from Hutchinson, Kansas. I don't care what anybody says if a caller is threatening the store and he is not there in person I would not follow his orders, more less disrobe on camera!

A City in Crisis Mode

Bomb threats called into two Dillons stores. 30th avenue store Employees, customers threatened, held against their will, made to disrobe. SWAT team, snipers take action.

By Darcy Gray - The Hutchinson News - dgray@hutchnews.com

More than 100 people were held hostage Tuesday afternoon in a Hutchinson grocery store when an unknown male called making bizarre demands and threatening to use explosives.

According to police, authorities are still looking for a suspect, or suspects, who called both police and the Dillons store at 30th and Plum around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday threatening to bomb the store unless "a large amount of cash" was wired to a bank account.

As of late Tuesday night, police didn't have any information about the caller. No one was injured in the ordeal.

Police wouldn't say where the suspect wanted the money wired to or how much he demanded. Officials said no money was transferred to any bank account.

For a second time in less than a week, snipers, K-9 units and other law enforcement agencies were called to assist local police in a nearly six-hour-long crisis. Police Chief Dick Heitschmidt said that Tuesday's hostage situation and last Thursday's standoff at The Clusters were isolated incidents.

Around noon Tuesday, officers set up a security perimeter in the area of 30th and Plum, blocked local traffic, evacuated stores adjacent to Dillons and put nearby Holy Cross Catholic School on lockdown.

Chief Heitschmidt said the caller had specific information indicating he "could see what was going on inside of the store."

He said police are still investigating whether a suspect was inside of Dillons or whether someone on the Internet had "hacked" into the store's security system and videotapes.

According to some of the 46 Dillons employees and 64 customers who spent about an hour and a half inside of the store against their will, the caller made some odd requests.

Marilyn Case, who has worked at Dillons for more than 30 years, said there were "constant" calls to a store manager, Mike Piros.

After employees and customers were moved to the customer service area in front of the store, Case said the caller wanted "everyone to take their clothes off."

"He stood up for his employees and argued with the caller," Case said of Piros. "He wasn't going to make them disrobe."

But the caller continued to make threats and instructed them to "do it now," Case said. She said most of the employees and customers disrobed.

Case also said the caller wanted $1 million wired to a European bank account, and for someone to cut off Piros' fingers - one finger for every hour his demands were not met.

She said another employee followed orders and retrieved a butcher knife from the shelf, but Piros was not harmed.

Customer Jim Peterson, who was held hostage along with his wife, Elaine, said he and his wife partly disrobed in response to the threats.

Peterson said people were distraught over the demands, especially when the caller requested Piros' fingers be cut off.

"People came undone and started saying, 'No, no,' " he said. "Everybody was up in arms - they didn't want that to happen."

Jeffrey Merian, of Sterling, who was inside Dillons shopping with his father, Walter, said the caller prohibited the use of cell phones, so a basket was passed around to collect hostages' phones.

By about 12:30 p.m., two women, two young girls in Holy Cross uniforms and a baby were escorted out of Dillons by a police officer.

According to Police Chief Heitschmidt, about 12:45 p.m., police began escorting people out of Dillons one and two at a time until everyone was safely out of the store.

Heitschmidt wouldn't say why officers felt it was safe at that time to remove people from the store.

Partially clothed and waiting for Dillons to reopen Tuesday, Merian said he didn't mind getting a little bruised and said police were just doing their jobs.

Heitschmidt said officers took several people into custody until they could verify their identities.

Hostages who escaped the crisis ran and embraced family members who were anxiously awaiting their release in adjacent parking lots.

"I was really scared," said Lorrie Gabhart, an 11-year Dillons employee. "It was like someone was in the store watching.

"If anyone left the building, they were going to blow it up."

Heitschmidt said officers conducted two searches of Dillons, and members of the local Emergency Response Team helped search the roof of the building. K-9 units also completed two searches of the area but found no explosives.

He also confirmed threatening calls were made to the Dillons at 13th and Main. That store was evacuated without incident and business returned to normal at about 2:30 p.m.

By 5 p.m., officers had started conducting a crime scene investigation at the Dillons at 30th and Plum and by 5:45 p.m., most of the officers had dispersed and barricades had been taken down to allow local traffic through.

Reno County Sheriff's chaplains were on hand providing drinks. Sheila Lowrie, a Dillons spokeswoman, said the company brought counselors to the scene to offer support.

"We're sorry the employees and the customers had to go through this," Lowrie said.

She indicated the store would probably open Wednesday morning.

Although two crises happened in the last week, Heitschmidt said there is no reason for anyone in this community to feel unsafe since they were isolated incidents. Police plan to look at the store's videotapes, as well as trace the phone calls, he said.

Heitschmidt and Police Capt. Troy Hoover said similar incidents have occurred in New York, Virginia, Missouri and Arizona, so officers will continue to pursue whether someone did hack into the store's security system.

"If they can access the Internet, they can get to anything," Heitschmidt said. "Anyone in the whole world could have access, if that's what really happened."