Police Blast Office Door in High-Rise, Free Hostage

A Los Angeles police SWAT team blew the door off a Century City law firm Wednesday night, freeing a woman hostage and ending an eight-hour standoff with an irate client of the firm, who held his victim at knifepoint and claimed to have a bomb and a gun.

No injuries resulted.

The man--identified as Reynard Jones, 33, of Compton--was arrested without further incident after officers rushed into the 26th-floor offices of attorney Herbert L. Michel Jr. in the Fox Plaza building about 7:45 p.m.

Lt. Don Beasley, said Jones would be booked on suspicion of kidnaping and extortion by bomb threat.

Jones had arrived at the law office at about 10:30 a.m., complaining about the results of legal work the firm was handling for him, according to police.

His attorney was not in the office at the time, and Jones then took temporary secretary Temple Curry, 25, hostage at knifepoint, officers said.

Police negotiators, a special weapons team and a bomb squad responded to the scene shortly after receiving a call about the trouble at about 11:30 a.m.

They quickly 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 building as they returned from lunchtime breaks, regardless of what floors they worked on.

Police were able to make contact with Jones through the door of the offices, and he at first demanded $5,000 in cash and a getaway car.

Throughout the afternoon and early evening, negotiators were able to keep in contact with Jones by telephone. At one point he asked for two hamburgers, two orders of french fries and two soft drinks.

But as the night wore on, “It became obvious from his fatigue and paranoia” that he was not going to come out, said Police Cmdr. Ronald Banks. So police decide to act.

SWAT members, armed with assault rifles, had been inside the building since 5 p.m. making final preparations for their assault.

Six city firefighters, heavily loaded with equipment, had also entered the building, and an ambulance pulled up about 5:30 p.m. A police helicopter arrived at about 7:30 p.m., landing on the roof of Fox Plaza.

Fifteen minutes later, the helicopter began circling as a distraction and SWAT team members then ignited an explosive device that blew down the office door.

Police rushed in and arrested Jones as he sat in a chair. His knife was lying on the floor. No bomb or gun was found, Banks said.

Jones was questioned by police for about an hour before being taken to police headquarters. He was wearing a blue Windbreaker-style jacket, red T-shirt and white sneakers when he was led out of the building and put into a patrol car. He appeared calm and quiet, even as a mob of photographers, television crews and reporters swept toward him. As he sat in the car, Jones lowered his eyes, but wore what appeared to be a faint smile.

Meanwhile, the attorney Jones apparently had been seeking, Michel, 38, could not be reached. Workers in the building said they believe that his firm specializes 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 device they use to blow down doors. The officers apparently performed the test in an underground passageway leading to the building engineer’s office.