In Atlantic City, U.S.A a masked man claiming he was armed, held hostages for nearly six hours on a shuttle bus outside a casino before letting his hostages go and surrendering early in the hours of Wednesday morning.

The man blamed the Showboat Casino-Hotel for his brother’s suicide who he claims was a problem gambler.

The man who has not been identified, was ordered to strip down to his underwear during the standoff by FBI agents, he eventually agreed at about 4:45 in the morning said, police Sgt. Stephen Jones.

Sgt. Jones added, “He just gave up peacefully.”

After searching the man, no gun was found in his possession.

Showboat security apparently called the police at 10:30 pm to report a man with a gun holding up a shuttle bus.  It is believed the driver of the shuttle bus fled the scene after a skirmish with the man.  A passenger also fled the scene, leaving three other people who stayed on the bus for a short while longer, before being released.  It has been reported that there were no injuries.

Sgt. Jones said the man was thought to have an explosive device strapped to his body and police believed that the man had planted an explosive device inside the casino near the House of Blues nightclub.  However, this was later found out to be a hoax device.

Police made a thorough search of the casino and the hotel, but failed to find anything else suspicious and the casino which had been closed due to the incident reopened at 5 am.

Acting Atlantic City Mayor William Marsh said to communicate with the man a robot took a mobile phone to the man soon after the standoff began.

Mayor Marsh said the man demanded money and also offered to surrender if he was allowed to drive to his relatives’ house to speak to them first.  The police rejected both demands.

A blackjack player Tony Demetro, who was in the Showboat at the time of the standoff, said staff asked players to leave the building soon after 11 pm.

He said, “They locked down all the tables, covered them with plastic covers and asked everyone to leave.  It was pretty calm.”

Hotel guests at the Showboat Casino-Hotel were evacuated to the nearby Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort where they were put up in a ballroom says Demetro.

However, not all the hotel’s guests made it to the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort.  Doris Kinsler, her husband and two other relatives were in their hotel room on the 15th floor, watching television all night unaware of what was going on.  Mrs Kinsler claims she wasn’t told to leave the building or that she was in danger.

She said, “I am mad as hell, and I don’t care who knows about it.  If this place blew up, we would have gone with it.”

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