Client Holds Secretary Hostage at Legal Firm

An irate client of a small Century City law firm took a secretary hostage just before noon and remained barricaded late Wednesday afternoon, demanding $5,000 cash and a getaway vehicle from police negotiators.

The man--whose identity was known to authorities but not released--entered the 26th-floor law offices of attorney Herbert L. Michel Jr. in the Fox Plaza building about 11:30 a.m., complaining about the results of some legal work the firm was handling for him, according to a Los Angeles police spokesman.

His attorney was not in the office at the time and the man quickly took a 25-year-old secretary hostage at knifepoint, officers said. “She’s in a chair and he’s sitting in front of the door and he has a weapon,” Lt. Rich Malony said. “He has a bag and he says there is a gun and a bomb in the bag.”

Police negotiators, a special weapons team and a bomb squad responded to the scene and evacuated the 25th, 26th and 27th floors of the building at 2121 Avenue of the Stars.

Hundreds of people spilled out on the broad, circular driveway leading to the 34-story office tower and still more workers were stopped by police from reentering the posh business address as they returned from lunchtime breaks, regardless of what floors they worked on.

Police were able to make contact with the man through the door of the offices, and at that time he made his demands for money and transportation. Negotiations were continuing.

Sgt. Michael Florio said the $5,000 had been “made available,” but the man did not immediately take it.

“Our No. 1 priority is time,” Florio said. “We won’t move unless individuals in charge think there is no other alternative, or if the hostage is in danger.”

Michel, 38, could not be reached. Workers in the building said they believed his firm specialized in personal-injury cases.

Fox Plaza is the home of several prominent law firms, brokerage firms and movie companies. Oilman, movie entrepreneur and hotel owner Marvin Davis rents two floors in the building. 20th Century-Fox Film Corp., which owns the office tower, houses its legal and accounting departments there. Other tenants include the brokerage firms of Merrill Lynch and Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette.

Some workers voluntarily left the building shortly before 4 p.m. when they heard what police sources later confirmed was a test firing of a devise they use to blow down doors. The officers apparently performed the test in an underground passageway leading to the building engineer’s office.

Cindy Schmidt, of Hermosa Beach, who works for Headquarters Cos. in Fox Plaza, said she and co-workers continued working in their sixth-floor offices until they heard the explosion.

“We thought it was a bomb,” Schmidt said. “Everyone who heard it thought, ‘We have to go,’ and then left.”