westgate freeway siege

Why do they have to negotiate with this moron? Just shoot him and get the traffic flowing again.

West Gate Freeway gunman siege
From AAP and staff reporters
16sep03

POLICE are negotiating with a gunman holed up in his van in the car park of the Shell service station near the West Gate Bridge.
The man, in his 30s, pulled a shotgun during a random car inspection this afternoon, a police spokesman said.
Officers sealed off the busy freeway and the bridge after the incident began about 2.10pm at the service station on the inbound lane.
The siege is causing peak-hour chaos on the freeway, with traffic banked up several kilometres.

Heavily armed police have surrounded the white transit van and are trying to talk to the man.
Police said the incident began when uniformed officers made a random inspection of the man's vehicle and found it had stolen number plates.

When they asked him to accompany them to a police station, he pulled a shotgun from the rear of the vehicle and threatened to shoot himself, police said.

He was sitting in the rear of the van with the shotgun as police tried to negotiate with him.

Several people in the service station at the time of the incident were locked in the building for about an hour but most had since been released, police said.

No shots have been fired and no injuries have been reported.

Dozen of police have formed a cordon around the area and the police helicopter was keeping watch overhead.

Talkback callers to radio 3AW say they can hear police talking to the man via a loudhailer.

Police have cleared the area but traffic remains chaotic in the surrounding streets, and motorists not in the area have been urged to stay away.

Initial reports that shots were fired were not true, police said.

CityLink has confirmed tolls would be waived for vehicles using the affected sections of the tollway.