Police in Butte, Montana, believe that a man carrying an explosive device and a handgun held another man hostage for two hours inside a bus parked by Jefferson Lines on Wednesday.
According to the Montana Standard, SWAT officers from the Butte Police have guns pointed at the bus and the suspect. An officer with a rifle is posted on the roof of the bus station, the bus being parked in the parking lot of the Butte bus station.
ABC Fox Montana TV reported that the suspect was refusing to leave the bus.
A witness told Montana Standard that the suspect had put a firearm on the bus driver's head while the bus was heading west towards Missoula from Billings. According to the witness, the man asked the driver to go to the Silver Bow County Court House in Butte.
Instead, the driver went to the Civic Center in Butte and told the suspect that it was the courthouse. The civic center is located right in front of the Butte bus depot and evacuated.
The driver then deactivated the bus and the suspect allowed the driver and all passengers, except the hostage, to disembark.
Authorities blocked Civic Center Road and Harrison Avenue, a major thoroughfare that passes close to the town center and Butte bus station.
Basketball training at Butte High School was canceled at the civic center, according to Bill Melvin, director of the Butte Civic Center.
