Hostages held at gun range.

[BerettaCougar]

http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/newswire/story/north-dale-mabry-closed/



This is 2 miles away, I was on my way there today to put something on layaway...and ran into this...

Lets keep our fingers crossed it turns out for the best.

TAMPA - A gunman, whose name was not released, is still holding four hostages inside the Shooting Sports Inc. gun range at 7811 N. Dale Mabry Highway.

“We have been talking with him for hours,” said sheriff’s spokeswoman Debbie Carter.

One hostage, a man, was released. He was fine. “Thankfully no one has been hurt,” Carter said. Officials remain concerned because of the amount of weapons and ammunition.

The stalemate, reported at 4:42 p.m., stretched for hours and caused the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office to close about a mile-long portion of the highway between Waters and Hamilton avenues. Rush-hour traffic was diverted to side streets.

Scores of Hillsborough County deputies, other law enforcement agency officers and a crowd approaching 100 waited into the night.

Isaiah Ruhling of Tampa planned to meet a friend for target practice at Shooting Sports Thursday afternoon when he was stopped in his tracks. Ruhling was heading toward the building when two employees ran out.

“.‘Don’t go in there,’.” Ruhling said they yelled. “.‘There is a man with a gun.’.”

Ruhling ran to an office parking lot next door, leaving his car in the Shooting Sports parking lot. He said he did not see the gunman.

Denise Depietro, a designer for the civil engineering firm EMK Consultants, was stuck for hours Thursday evening, unable to get to her car as heavily armed police swarmed around the building.

“I couldn’t believe this was happening right here,” she said.

Her office is in a building behind the shooting range.

She said she and other employees were taking the delays in stride.

“Nobody likes it,” Depietro said. “But what can you do?”

Tribune reporters Jason Geary, Anthony McCartney, Chris Echegaray and Valerie Kalfrin and News Channel 8 reporters Jeff Patterson and Peter Bernard contributed to this report.

 

[Jaycolo]

I used to live around there before I moved isnt that the one next to tampa lanes

 

[BerettaCougar]

Yes.

What still puzzles me is that the employees there pack, and some have back-ups either on their ankles or in their pockets.

Man I hope this turns out good. I know everyone that works there, good people.

 

[Jaycolo]

yea I hope everything turns out fine and my hopes and prayers go out to the people affected by this but im not to shocked I know before I moved out of that area 5 or so years ago its was falling on hard times not really one of the better areas of town

 

[BillCA]

Stand-off over; hostages out and safe; suspect dead

Last Edited: Friday, 13 Apr 2007, 3:58 AM EDT
Created: Friday, 13 Apr 2007, 3:14 AM EDT

TAMPA - After a tense 10 hours, a police standoff and hostage situation that snarled Thursday’s rush hour traffic finally ended early Friday morning.

All the hostages made it out safely.

The gunman, 42-year-old Jeffrey Dudney, shot and killed himself, according to Hillsborough Sheriff David Gee.

The ordeal began just before 5 p.m. Thursday at Shooting Sports Inc. on Dale Mabry Highway.

According to Sheriff Gee, Dudney came into the store with the intent to steal a gun and take off.

But Gee said a customer inside confronted Dudney, and that’s when the stand-off began.

Gee described an incredibly volatile scene, with Dudney constantly threatening to shoot the hostages inside. Gee said Dudney would, at times, come up to the door of the gun range, using a hostage as a shield and pointing a gun at their head. Others, Dudney violently manhandled them, throwing them to the ground.

“He was very agitated, very amped up,” Sheriff Gee said.

The situation brought police and deputies from all over the county, some toting full SWAT gear and driving armored tank-like vehicles.

The standoff continued into the night, with little information from authorities about the drama unfolding inside. But around 9:45, a police robot accompanied the first of the hostages to be released. A man walked out of the store with his hands in the air and was met by officers, who promptly frisked him for weapons before shaking his hand.