Man Holds 5 Hostage, Shoots Up Phone Unit

A man described as a disgruntled former telephone company employee took five people hostage early Monday at a Pacific Bell plant and then shot up switching equipment that left 15,000 lines without service, authorities said.

None of the hostages, who included four night-shift employees and a security guard, was seriously injured in the incident, which ended at 8:05 a.m. when Anthony Apodaca, 47, of Riverside, surrendered to police, said Lt. Ellis Asper, spokesman for the Riverside Police Department.

Apodaca, who was armed with a shotgun, a large-caliber handgun and a lunch pail full of ammunition, was booked on suspicion of felonious assault with a deadly weapon, kidnaping, felony malicious mischief and damaging phone lines.

Held in Jail Ward

He was being held at the jail ward of Riverside County Hospital because “of his emotional state,” Asper said.

A company spokeswoman said Apodaca retired as a plant engineer in 1985 after 20 years with the company. She refused to disclose information about his problems with the company. But Asper said, “He was very frustrated because he couldn’t get answers to questions he had about his retirement benefits.”

More than 100 Pacific Bell engineers and technicians struggled to correct the telephone snarl that disabled thousands of Riverside area phones with 781, 788, 369 and 787 prefixes, said Linda Bonniksen, spokeswoman for the company. The 911 emergency telephone system was not affected.

Bonniksen said “quick fixes” were being attempted for “priority customers” such as hospitals, safety and law enforcement agencies. But police and Riverside County Sheriff’s Department lines were still out of service late Monday afternoon.

Busy on Repair Work

Bonniksen said engineers were attempting to replace damaged parts of call-routing equipment with parts shipped from throughout Southern California and that basic service was expected to be restored by 6 a.m. today.

Complete restoration will take up to 12 days because the company was forced to order a new switching system from Northern California. Bonniksen estimated that equipment and labor will cost about $10 million.

Asper said the incident began at 2:49 a.m., when “we received a call from a hysterical female on the 911 emergency line who said there was a man with a gun in the phone company.”

Officers dispatched to the scene learned that employees were being held as Apodaca roamed the building and fired 75 to 100 rounds at random and at critical switching equipment, Asper said.

Specific Targets

“He was very knowledgeable about what he was doing,” Asper said. Although some shots were fired at a palm tree outside the building and at windows and doors inside, many others were directed at specific equipment.

“Without this equipment, this office is dead,” said an engineer at the building, who was inspecting electronic panels riddled with bullet holes.

Police fired four to five shots during the incident, Asper said, “a few of which were to disable Apodaca’s vehicle.”

Hostage negotiators called to the scene initiated telephone conversations with Apodaca, who “made repeated requests that he wanted to speak to a ‘big wheel’ with the company,” Asper said.

At 3:21 a.m. Apodaca allowed a woman employee to leave the building. By 4:45 a.m., the others had been released or had escaped, Asper said. Apodaca walked out of the building and surrendered at 8:05 a.m., after “one of our negotiators told him ‘I just can’t reach the people you want me to,’ ” Asper said.

Interviews with the hostages, whose names were withheld, indicated that Apodaca gained entrance through a rear door.

“The security guard who was unarmed at the rear of the building at first denied him entrance,” Asper said. “Apodaca fired a round through the door and the security guard let him in.”