Free Republic

ST. JOSEPH, La. (AP) - Fuaed Abdo Ahmed was angry and hearing voices, authorities said, when he wrote the letter detailing his plan to take employees hostage at a rural Louisiana bank. The slain hostage was identified by the sheriff as Jay Warbington.

It looks as if there is something a little more going on than your typical bank robbery-gone-wrong scenario in St. Joseph this afternoon. What’s on the wires at present is this. Someone with what might be an automatic weapon has holed himself up in the Tensas State Bank in that sleepy burg along the Mississippi about 20 miles north of Natchez, and he apparently has at least three bank employees holed up with him. A state police hostage negotiator is on the scene, and it’s a developing situation. That’s what we know. Here’s what the grapevine is spitting out. First,...

According to Lee’s website, this is a video of the hostage taker, James Jay Lee, throwing money in the air in Silver Springs, MD. The YouTube video is dated as March 3, 2010. Here is another video of a title sequence he created for his proposed discovery channel. (videos in link)

Hostage-taker killed during standoff BY KERRY DRENNAN AVALANCHE-JOURNAL A Lubbock Police officer fired the fatal shot that ended a 17-hour standoff with an ex-con who, at one point, held a Friona family hostage after stealing several cars and firing at multiple law enforcement officers. Officer Scott Weems was placed on paid administrative leave Sunday, as is Lubbock Police Department policy pending the outcome of the investigations into the shooting death of Robby Lynn Vaughn, 37, of Muleshoe, Chief Claude Jones said. "We'll be looking at it policy-wise, but everything looks good," Jones said. The Texas Rangers are conducting an independent...