GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - Armed siege just near my place

We were a couple of suburbs away and saw a couple of cop cars revving the shit out of their engines as they sped north along the highway towards our suburb... saw another one just as we were heading home too and I could see it was going far up, towards our suburb. I knew it was something big because of that, they needed more than just local units. I figured it was probably a highway accident or something like that.

I tried to get a drink on the way home but there was a cop car blocking the road, near the service station that I was trying to get to. Turns out that the servo was the centre of the action...

Armed siege at Craigieburn service station
June 14, 2004

Special Operations Group police last night surrounded a Shell service station and sandwich bar at Craigieburn, in Melbourne's north, after an armed man barricaded himself inside with a hostage.

Police spokesman Wayne Wilson said police were called to the scene, at the corner of Craigieburn Road and Hanson Street, about 9.30pm.

Senior Constable Wilson said police believed the man was armed with a shotgun and a pistol when he entered the premises and cleared it of customers, leaving only a female employee aged about 20. It was unclear if the man knew the woman.

The hostage was released after several hours but the man remained inside the premises.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...065041519.html

I have a radio scanner and I switched it on just in time to hear the op telling several units to switch to a local channel. Since I was local I was able to look up the frequency and I listened for the next couple of hours. I lost count of how many different callsigns there were... at least 10-12 cars which probably means 20+ officers. There were also security units and a couple of negotiators.

The chatter was mainly about moving into position (including the roof), killing rear carpark lights, finding entry points to the servo, and keeping employees from a nearby supermarket inside.

I really feel for the girl, I don't know her personally but she has served me before, and I suspected she was probably involved when the cops mentioned that "the female" was moving across the store. Seeing the news story say that she was about 20 years old pretty much confirms it. :( It's one thing to be the victim of a 2 minute armed holdup, but to have a guy deliberately come in with the intention of holding a single hostage is something completely different... and for myself it's pretty damn scary that this happened in a place that is close to me and which I buy from frequently.

I'll be watching the news keenly tonight to see what they say.