HUTCHINSON — Sometimes lunch can be the most important meal of the day.
An Emporia resident who spent part of Tuesday in Hutchinson decided to get lunch before stopping at a Dillons store. In doing so, the person just missed getting caught up in a hostage crisis involving more than 100 customers and store employees.
“I was just pulling into the parking lot ... and there were a whole lot of police cars sitting with their lights on,” said the Emporia resident, who asked not to be identified. “A police officer was getting out his gun. As I got out of the car, he looked at me and said ‘Get out.’”
The person ended up watching the situation from about two buildings away.
“Everyone’s understanding is that it’s an armed robbery,” the person said.
The full story may be more bizarre than that. According to the Hutchinson News, somebody called both the store and the police department, threatening to bomb the Dillons store unless money was transferred to a bank account. No money was sent, but officers set up a perimeter around the store.
According to the News report, the caller appeared to be able to see what was going on in the store. Forty-six Dillons employees and 64 customers spent around 90 minutes confined in the store. At one point, the News said, the caller also demanded that the hostages undress and that someone cut off one of the manager’s fingers for every hour his demands weren’t met. An employee told the News that most of the hostages did disrobe but that the manager remained unharmed.
A police search of the store found no explosives, according to the News article. No one was injured. The caller remains at large.