Charleston Police Responding to ‘Active Shooter Situation’

UPDATES:

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – The Latest on shooting and hostage situation in Charleston, S.C. (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

The mayor says a hostage situation in a Charleston, South Carolina, restaurant has ended with the gunman being shot by police.

Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg said the restaurant employee shot by the gunman Thursday has died.

Interim Charleston Police Chief Jerome Taylor says all the hostages at Virginia’s restaurant were rescued safely. He didn’t say how many there were.

Tecklenburg says the man who took the hostages is in critical condition.

Authorities did not release the names of the gunman or the man killed.

Taylor says the restaurant on tourist-heavy King Street was packed at lunchtime and his officers helped rescue the wounded man and a number of diners.

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2:45 p.m.

An owner of a South Carolina restaurant where a gunman is holding hostages says he’s been told the man is a dishwasher who was angry with and shot a male chef.

John Aquino told WCSC-TV that he thinks the gunman was fired and came back to Virginia’s in downtown Charleston on Thursday to get revenge.

Aquino says he doesn’t know how badly the chef was injured.

Charleston Police spokesman Charles Francis says officers were able to get the injured man out of the restaurant after the lunchtime shooting. Francis did not give any details of the man’s condition.

Francis says the shooter is holding a small number of hostages, but he has declined to give an exact number.

Witnesses say the man let diners, waitresses and some kitchen staff out of the restaurant.

Authorities say a hostage negotiation team is trying to talk to the gunman.

EARLIER REPORTING:

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – Authorities say they are investigating a possible “active shooter” situation in downtown Charleston, South Carolina.

Police spokesman Charles Francis said a shooting was reported just after noon on King Street, which is a row of restaurant and shops where tourists frequently gather.

He did not immediately report any injuries or information about a potential suspect. No other details were immediately available.

Tom and Patsy Plant told The Post and Courier of Charleston they were eating at Virginia’s restaurant and saw a man come out of the kitchen with a gun in his hand and said “there’s a new boss in town.”

The couple said they left out a back door.