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Los Angeles cops are on the hunt for two suspects who held 14 people hostage at gunpoint at a Nordstrom's store late Thursday night, but vanished as police surrounded the store and shopping center.

Police received a call shortly after 11 p.m. alerting them that there were gunmen in the Nordstrom Rack store at the Promenade at Howard Hughes Center, in Westchester, Calif., officers said today.

By the time police arrived, one suspect could be seen outside the store but he quickly slipped inside, according to Lt. Steve Lurie of the Los Angeles Police Department.

"The first officer who arrived saw at least one suspect, but he disappeared inside the store when police got there," Lurie said.

Police surrounded the store and shopping area. After 45 minutes, the SWAT team from the LAPD entered into the store and found 13 women and one man in the store room and bathroom of the store, according to police.

The suspects had already fled the premises, police believe.

One of the hostages had been stabbed and another had been sexually assaulted during the robbery, according to Lurie. Both individuals were taken to a nearby hospital.

"It was just like shocking, because you come out and they're like, 'Uh, you can't leave to your cars because if you go outside, there's a possibility you're going to get shot because they have high-powered rifles at Nordstroms,'" moviegoer Logan Kelly told KABC. http://abcnews.go.com/US/hostages-freed-nordstrom-rack-manhunt-suspect
s/story?id=18191274

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Violent Home Invasion Caught on Tape:

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An armed man who took a hostage inside a downtown Pittsburgh office building has surrendered to police.

Police Chief Nate Harper says the suspect gave himself up after posting Facebook updates in the early hours of the standoff saying he had "lost everything." Harper says the hostage is OK.

Police identified the hostage-taker as Klein Michael Thaxton. Harper had said Thaxton had a military background and was suicidal.

The standoff began Friday morning inside the 16th-floor office of a benefits administration firm.

Workers milled around near the building after they were ordered out shortly after 8 a.m. when employees in a nearby office called 911 to report an emergency at CW Breitsman Associates. It's not clear what led Thaxton to target the company, which runs employee-benefits programs for other businesses.

Thaxton has a criminal record that includes a guilty plea to robbery earlier this year and a minimum six-month jail sentence.More at http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/09/21/pittsburgh-swat-team-responds-to-
hostage-report-at-high-rise-office-building/

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