Gunman wounds 2 officers, takes hostage in Nebraska drugstore

ALLIANCE, Neb. –  A gunman wounded two officers was holding at least one hostage inside a western Nebraska drugstore after a botched robbery attempt, authorities said Tuesday.

Alliance City Manager J.D. Cox said the gunman inside Thiele Pharmacy & Gifts was believed to be heavily armed and that there was "tremendous concern" for the hostage Tuesday afternoon.

The standoff began about 8:50 a.m. Nebraska State Patrol spokeswoman Deb Collins said a patrol SWAT team was on the scene, which she described as "extremely dangerous." Entire downtown blocks in the small town of Alliance were shut down. Alliance is in the Nebraska Panhandle, about 370 miles west Omaha and 192 miles from Denver.

Cox said an Alliance police officer was shot in an arm early in the standoff and the trooper was wounded later in the morning. A spokeswoman for Box Butte General Hospital in Alliance declined to comment about their conditions because the standoff was continuing.  More

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