Westbound traffic into San Francisco has come to a screeching halt this morning as police try and talk down an armed man who said he was holding his family hostage inside his SUV.
The man called emergency dispatchers around 7:10 am and told them he had a pipe bomb in his car, according to the Contra Costa Times. He said his family was inside the car. The man then pulled his SUV over west of Treasure Island, got out, climbed over the railing, and threatened to jump. Police are now talking to him.
“At 7:10 a.m., police reported that a man driving a SUV had pulled over on the westbound Bay Bridge leading to San Francisco and had informed law enforcement that he was holding his family hostage,” according to KTVU News. “He allegedly had called a local radio station reporting he had a gun, explosives and was had his daughter in the SUV with him.”
Thousands of commuters are stranded in their cars.
UPDATE: 8:21 am — The armed man who halted traffic on the upper deck of the Bay Bridge has been taken into custody, KTVU is reporting. The California Highway Patrol was able to reach the man on his cell phone. He surrendered around 8 am and traffic was flowing 15 minutes later.
The man, whose name has not yet been released, called local radio station KCBS’ Phone Force line “and said he was stopped on the bridge with his daughter and had explosives and a gun,” according to KTVU. “KCBS producer Ted Goldberg said the man had told the radio station that he was upset because his wife had been cheating on him and was going to leave him. Cross said the man had released his young daughter, who is now safe with authorities. “He let her out of the car,” Cross said.”