Store employees held hostage by man brandishing fire extinguisher

A man who was arrested on Sunday at a Glendale Walmart is accused of trying to take about a dozen employees hostage while brandishing a fire extinguisher

Police believe the incident began when a man they have identified as Ryan Herman, 23, of Glendale, Arizona, attempted to pocket a pack of cigarettes from a Walmart. When a store employee confronted him, he left the store with the cigarettes - only to return to throw his keys at an employee.



Witnesses told police Herman grabbed a bottle of alcohol off the shelf and lobbed it through a window, breaking both the window and the bottle. Store employees told police Herman ordered them to sit on the floor of the break room and lock the door. When they told him it couldn't lock, he shut the door and began to pace.

Police arrived and observed Herman holding the fire extinguisher. After an officer asked him to put the extinguisher down, Herman is accused of raising it in a "threatening manner." The officer deployed his Taser on Herman and took him into custody. Herman was arrested on suspicion of unlawful imprisonment, assault, shoplifting and aggravated assault of an officer.