( 4UMF NEWS ) Gunman Holding Hostages At Real Estate Office:
Police confirmed Friday that they exchanged gunfire with a man holding hostages inside a real estate office in Valparaiso, Ind.
Nadine Comerford, Nancy Lynch, Maureen Mullen and Samira Puskar of NBC News and Charlie Wojciechowski of NBC station WMAQ in Chicago contributed to this report by M. Alex Johnson of msnbc.com.
Most of the hostages escaped or were released, but the gunman was still holding a small number of people, police said. One women who was freed was treated at a hospital for a blunt force head wound, and a second hostage, described as an older woman, was released and driven away in an ambulance.
“We still have some workers in the building here at this time,” Valparaiso police Sgt. Mike Grennes told reporters Friday afternoon. He said he didn’t know how many, but he said fewer than 10 people were believed to have been inside when the gunman arrived.
Grennes said there was an exchange of gunfire when officers first arrived on the scene shortly after 10 a.m. CT (11 a.m. ET) at the Prudential office building in Valparaiso, which is just south of Chicago, but no one remaining in the building — “including the gunman” — was known to have been injured.
Grennes said the woman who was treated for a head injury may have hit her head on her way out, or the gunman may have struck her with his weapon.
Earlier, at least five people were allowed to leave the building.
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