2 hostages freed, others remain trapped in California bank
Two hostages have been released as negotiations continue with a male kidnapper at a bank in Bakersfield, California, where a bomb threat prompted an ongoing standoff, Xinhua reports citing local media.
Police are on the scene responding to the incident at a Chase Bank branch in the city, about 180 km north of Los Angeles.
Several buildings in downtown Bakersfield, including the city hall and the local police headquarters, have been locked down after the Bakersfield Police Department was alerted to the threat, local media reported.
The suspect, who apparently had a bomb strapped to his body, has barricaded himself inside the building with "several community members," said the police, not specifying how many people were abducted.
"At this time, everybody else still remains inside the building, and everybody else still remains in good health," Bakersfield Police Department Sergeant Eric Celedon told local TV.
A suspect barricaded inside a Chase Bank in downtown Bakersfield, California, held hostages whose ankles were reportedly strung together in a daisy chain. https://t.co/abL6X04oJt
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Earlier, it was reported that at least 15 people had been killed on May 31, after a head-on collision between a truck and a van on a highway in Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia.
