Hostage Drama Ends in Sydney Legal Building

Posted September 6th, 2011 at 7:50 am (UTC-5)
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A hostage standoff has ended without injury at a legal office in Sydney, Australia, with police raiding the building to arrest a man holding his daughter hostage while claiming to possess a bomb.

The man entered the building complex earlier Tuesday with the girl and told a court clerk to call the state attorney general's department and alert them that he had a bomb in his backpack.

The building was evacuated and police engaged in 11 hours of negotiations with the 52-year-old man. Police Assistant Commissioner Denis Clifford told reporters it was necessary to raid the building because negotiations had broken down.

Shortly before police raided the building, the man's 12-year-old daughter ran out of the building crying.

Neither the man nor his daughter were injured in the standoff.

Media outlets published photos of the man looking down from a second floor window, shirtless and wearing a wig similar to those worn by Australian lawyers and judges. He eventually broke a window in the office and flashed the universal hand sign for victory.