Christmas Eve Shots Fired
Shots have been fired at the Nakatomi Plaza Hotel and Convention Center at 2121 Avenue of the Stars (headquarters of 20th Century Studios/ now Fox Plaza) in Los Angeles this evening. The LAPD and FBI have surrounded the building this evening after LAPD officer, Sgt Al Powell reported being fired upon by automatic gunfire when he was responding to a disturbance call, which followed a false fire alarm on the 32nd floor.
According to an LAPD spokesperson, Sgt Powell was responding to a code 2 nuisance call when something from the upper floors of the building fell onto the hood of his RPM. It is reported that Sgt Powell was unharmed in this incident.
According to Social Media posts, there was a Christmas Party on the 30th floor for the Japanese-owned Nakatomi Corporation.
KFLW news has learned that at least 12 German nationals have taken 30 or more employees of the Nakatomi Corporation hostage. That same group has called for the release of dozens of political prisons held around the world. It is believed that the leader of the Volksfrei Movement-related group is Hans Gruber. The motivation for this attack is yet unknown.
Moments earlier, SWAT failed to storm the building. As the officers got close to the building, they were fired upon by automatic gunfire, forcing their retreat.
The LAPD SWAT under command of Captain Mitchell has called for the SWAT Van known as an RV (a 1943 Ford M8 Greyhound light armored vehicle) to be used to ramp the lobby doors to the building.
At least one hostage has a cell phone and is updating their social media account which is indicating that Nakatomi Corporation President Joe Takagi was killed by the leader of the terrorist group. This same hostage has reported that the group shot Takagi after he refused to hand over the codes to the building’s vault.
This event is still unfolding and we will update you as events occur:
Update 1: LAPD SWAT armored vehicle is shot by a anti-tank missle
Update 2: A massive explosion has rocked the building, blowing out all the windows on the first three floors.
Update 3: A police helicopter is circling the roof of the building.
Update 4: A huge explosion just occurred on the upper floors of the building.
