Man Takes Hostages in Plano, TX Day-Care Center
From the ERRI Watch Center

PLANO, TEXAS (EmergencyNet News) - The hostage situation at a suburban Dallas day-care center was still on-going on Thursday morning as police negotiators worked through the night trying to persuade a lone gunman to release the last of about 70 young children and adults he took hostage on Wednesday.

Local police and FBI SWAT teams surrounded the Rigsbee Child Development Center in the north Dallas suburb of Plano, where the man was believed to be still holding four or five hostages. Two of the hostages were said to be the man's own children.

Sixty young children as well as six adults were earlier set free by the man. Police said they were optimistic they could persuade the gunman to release his remaining hostages and surrender peacefully.

Plano police chief Bruce Glasscock said, "The suspect is still communicative. We don't see any indication that he is tired. The communications are going well and we anticipate we'll bring this to a peaceful resolution,"

Police declined to identify the gunman or say what his demands were. But neighbors and parents of children at the day-care center identified the man as James Monroe Lipscomb Jr., age 33. Witnesses said that he was married to one of the center's workers and had two children enrolled there but that he was estranged from his wife. The woman reportedly managed to escape the building at the start of the incident.

Police said the suspect burst into the day-care center at about 1515 CST after robbing a customer outside a nearby bank. He quickly let about 20 children leave the building but held dozens more until police moved in and sealed off the area. No shots have been fired and there were no reports of any injuries.