KALAMAZOO, Mich. — WWMT News Channel Three employees are back in their Kalamazoo studio after a bomb threat Thursday afternoon.
The West Michigan news station was given the all clear to re-enter the building about four hours after the threat, and quick thinking from an employee likely made the difference in keeping his colleagues safe.
A 36-year-old Greenville man's arrest was caught on camera, caputured by News Channel Three Anchor Andy Dominiani on Facebook live.
"There is the man (the police have) been talking with, hands in the air. He is cooperating and being arrested. They're cuffing him," he said in the video. "He's surrendering peacefully."
Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety officials say they negotiated with the suspect for more than 90 minutes before he peacefully surrendered.
"He did tell police at one point that he wanted to die. So we had to treat it as a mental health call," Jay Shatara, public information officer, says.
Police say the suspect got into the lobby by saying he had a news tip, but then he threatened the station just after 2 p.m. Thursday. Their chief engineer George Markle rushed for the door, and he was able to lock the suspect in the lobby.
"That helped us a ton because we knew where he was at the time," Shatara says. "So when we were on the phone with him, again roughly 90 minutes to two hour negotiation, we were able to at least know he was locked in that one perimeter."
Then, Markle and other engineers called the police and got everyone out of the building.
"If you know George, that's kind of the way he is. He's like the papa bear in the building. He makes sure that everybody's safe," Assistant News Director John McCreary says. "He truly did his job. He's a hero."
He says they have never encountered this man before, and he is grateful that no one was hurt.
"That is like our first and foremost goal that we protect our people and make sure that they're safe," McCreary says.
The police department's bomb squad went into the building after the arrest, and they only found wires and a phone charging cord in his backpack.
The station carried out their evening news broadcast outside before getting the all clear just after 6 p.m.
"We had to figure out how to remote into our systems. We did it with a laptop and a cell phone. And then we were able to use our live equipment, our backpacks, and transmit (the signal)," McCreary says. "It was a little clunky on air. But hey, you know what, it was live TV and I think we did a good job of explaining to our viewers what was going on."
Now, they're back to business as usual.
"It just brings it home that it can actually happen anywhere
The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety commended News Channel Three for their quick action in evacuating the building, and they encourage everyone to have a plan so they are prepared in case of an emergency.
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