Hostage Situation in Austin Doctor's Office Ends in Deaths

A more than six-hour hostage situation at a doctor's office in Austin, Texas, has ended with two people dead. Police were notified at 4:30pm Tuesday and spent hours attempting to communicate with those inside. The American-Statesman shares some of the lines SWAT team negotiators were overheard saying via loudspeaker: "Your life is very important to me, and I know life is very important to you. ... You don’t deserve to go through this ... for all you have done for others ... that is why I want to help you work through this. You have saved a lot of lives." The Washington Post adds this line: "I know you’ve been dealt a very terrible card, but you’ve spent your entire life dedicated to other people."

A robot sent into the facility—which KXAN identifies as the Children's Medical Group office—encountered one victim; the SWAT team then entered and found a second person dead. Authorities have not provided identifying information, details on what led to the situation, or said whether anyone else was in the building but managed to get out, though the American-Statesman reports that the overheard negotiations "suggested that an Austin doctor was one of the hostages and that another doctor was the hostage taker." KXAN reports both were indeed doctors, and that the victim worked at the office while the suspect did not. Officials are expected to provide more information later Wednesday. (More hostage stories.)