The 11-hour standoff in Bay County ends with three injured, including a hostage nurse shot accidentally by officers.
By Associated Press
Published September 7, 2004
PANAMA CITY, Fla. - A SWAT team stormed the Bay County Jail on Monday to end an 11-hour hostage situation. A hostage and two inmates were injured. Three other jail employees were freed.
The injured hostage was a nurse who was accidentally shot twice by the SWAT team in the upper and lower body, said Bay County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Ruth Sasser.
The woman underwent surgery and was in stable condition, Sasser said.
Two inmates who were part of the hostage situation also were shot. Kevin Nix and James Norton were treated and released and put into lockdown at the jail, Sasser said.
Two more inmates have been identified as being involved in the hostage situation, Sasser said. Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokeswoman Lisa Lagergren said 80 inmates had been interviewed and more could be identified as taking part in the standoff.
The SWAT team and armed corrections officer surrounded the jail about 9 p.m. Sunday. About 8 a.m. Monday, the officers stormed a third-floor area where the inmates had barricaded themselves and the hostages, Sasser said.
Sheriff Frank McKeithen had gone to the third floor Sunday night in an effort to negotiate an end to the standoff. The inmates asked for cigarettes and pizzas.
Jennifer Elmore, an anchor at WJHG-TV, said she received a call around 8:30 p.m. Sunday from a man who said he was holding hostages at the jail. Elmore said she asked the man why she should believe him, and he put a woman on the phone who said, "We are nurses at the Bay County Jail and we are being held hostage."
Elmore said she at first thought the call was a prank because she heard laughter in the background, but the caller said there was laughter "because we are being nice to them right now."
The caller said he was upset about health hazards at the jail, Elmore said.
A private company, Corrections Corp. of America, based in Nashville, operates the jail under contract with Bay County. All corrections officers and nurses are CCA employees.
