Police in Charleston, South Carolina, have surrounded Virginia’s restaurant after reports that a man walked out of the kitchen with a revolver and is holding hostages.
According to the Post and Courier, one person has been shot and an unknown number of people are allegedly being held hostage. Mayor John Tecklenburg has already spoken saying, “This was not an act of terrorism. This was not a hate crime. This was a disgruntled employee.”
Witnesses who were in the restaurant said they were eating when “an older black man wearing an apron and dressed like a kitchen staff member walked through the front door holding a small caliber revolver.” Some of the witnesses said he “locked the door and said ‘I am the new king of Charleston.’”
The Charleston Police Department used Twitter to warn people to stay away from the area when reports of an “active shooter” came in:
Fox News reports that the number of possible hostages is unknown. SWAT teams and hostage negotiators have surrounded the building.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.