Feds: Va. standoff suspect was angry at government

WYTHEVILLE, Va. -- Warren "Gator" Taylor was tired of driving, so he pulled off the interstate in this Blue Ridge Mountain town to buy gas and food. The Tennessee man had been angry at the government for months, even years, federal officials said Thursday, and this seemed like as good a place as any to use the handguns and mock explosives he had packed in his beloved red pickup.

He had no apparent connection to Wytheville, but the picturesque community of 8,500 reminded him of the tourist town of Gatlinburg, Tenn., three hours away. So after breakfast at a local eatery and a steak at Applebee's, he pushed his wheelchair through the door of the post office Wednesday afternoon, officials said, slammed what looked like a bomb on the counter and took three people hostage.

Just over eight hours later, after demanding only a pizza he shared with his captives and a pack of cigarettes for a hostage who smoked, he let them go, wheeled himself outside in his chair and surrendered.

This undated photo released by the State of Virginia shows Warren Taylor. Taylor, accused of taking three people hostage at a Wytheville, Va. post office was arraigned Thursday morning in U.S. District Court in Roanoke. U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Urbanski ordered the 53-year-old Taylor to be evaluated at a federal prison facility to determine if he is competent to face the charges, which also include possession of a firearm during a crime and possession of a firearm in a federal facility.

- Florida Department of Corrections /AP Photo

Wytheville Post Office employee Walt Korndoerfer, handles mail in a parking lot two blocks from the main post office where a man is allegedly holding hostages and has explosives on Main Street in Wytheville Virginia Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009. Korndoerfer was in back room of the post office when incident began.

- The Roanoke Times, Matt Gentry /AP Photo

A man in a blue top carries a bag that was left at the front door of the Wytheville Post Office shortly after 7pm on Main Street in Wytheville, Va. Wednesday Dec. 23, 2009. The man emerged from the interior of the post office retrieved the bag and went back inside.

- The Roanoke Times, Matt Gentry /AP Photo

In this recropped version of a Dec. 23, 2009 photo, Warren Taylor in a wheelchair surrenders to a police robot after holding hostages at a post office in Wytheville, Va., officials said.

- Steve Helber /AP Photo

A Virginia State Police Swat team member get into position at the Wytheville Post Office, Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009. A hostage situation is ongoing at the post office in the southwest Virginia town.

- Reece Johnson, Wytheville Enterprise /AP Photo

Police gather at the Wytheville Post Office Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009. A hostage situation is ongoing at the post office in the southwest Virginia town.

- Jeffrey P. Simmons, Wytheville Enterprise /AP Photo

Jim Oliver, 41, left, who was taken hostage in a Wytheville, Va. post office on Dec. 23, 2009 speaks to The Associated Press in Wytheville, Va., on Thursday Dec. 24, 2009 along with his mother, Sandy Oliver. Jim Oliver was taken hostage along with two other people for about eight hours before the hostage taker surrendered himself to authorities. Oliver said that Warren Taylor, who Federal officials say was the hostage taker, was angry at the federal government because his son had died in Afghanistan and his beloved truck was about to repossessed.

- The Roanoke Times, Stephanie Klein-Davis /AP Photo

Three bullet holes are shown in the window of the post office in Wytheville, Va. on Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009 where authorities say Warren Taylor took three people hostage for about eight hours before surrendering himself to authorities. One of the hostages said that Taylor said he was angry at the federal government because his son had died in Afghanistan and his beloved truck was about to repossessed.

- The Roanoke Times, Stephanie Klein-Davis /AP Photo

Jim Oliver, 41, who was taken hostage in a Wytheville, Va. post office on Dec. 23, 2009 speaks to The Associated Press in Wytheville, Va., on Thursday Dec. 24, 2009. Oliver was taken hostage along with two other people for about eight hours before the hostage taker surrendered himself to authorities. Oliver said that Warren Taylor, who Federal officials say was the hostage taker, was angry at the federal government because his son had died in Afghanistan and his beloved truck was about to repossessed.

- The Roanoke Times, Stephanie Klein-Davis /AP Photo

CLICK FOR MORE PHOTOS

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

"There was no mission statement. No demands made. No purpose in what he was doing. There was no reason for any of it," said Jimmy Oliver, 41, one of the hostages, who spoke with The Associated Press at his mother's floral shop. "He just wanted to destroy a federal building with a lot of people.

"Once we established a relationship, he decided destroying people wasn't in the cards."

Oliver, a divorced father of two, was at the post office to mail Christmas gifts to his teenage sons and was filling out forms at a counter when he noticed a heavyset man using his wheelchair like a walker to brace himself.

He saw the man put an olive drab square ammunition can on the counter, then pull out a .40-caliber Glock pistol. Customers scattered, and the man fired a single shot at the postmaster as he fled.

The man stuck one of his four guns in Oliver's face and told him to get on the floor, where he laid next to an older man while the gunman grabbed Margie Austin, a postal supervisor.

Oliver, who said he had served 18 years in the military, mostly with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, thought about his children and family and tried to stay calm. Austin did the same, even as the gunman at one point grabbed her and used her as a human shield as he fired at police outside.

"I tried to keep him calm and see what he wanted," Austin said. "I just wanted us to get out alive. There were times I didn't know whether that would happen."

When the gunman asked the hostages their names, Oliver introduced himself as a former staff sergeant, hoping for mercy.

Slowly, the gunman opened up, saying he had been in the Marines for 20 years and was proud of his military experience. On Thursday, military officials could not immediately locate any record that Taylor served.

In the last few years, the gunman told Oliver and the others, his life had headed south. He said his son had been killed in Afghanistan; the AP could not immediately find any record corroborating that.

The gunman said he had no money, and his 2007 red Dodge diesel pickup truck was about to be repossessed. Mostly, he railed against the government - high taxes, gun control, and President Barack Obama.

Associated Press writers Tom Breen in Roanoke and Bristol, Tenn.; Michael Felberbaum in Richmond; and Tim Huber in Charleston, W.Va., contributed to this report.