Hostage incident ends in Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- A man with a machine gun, a pistol and a homemade bomb took 18 people hostage Monday in Amsterdam's tallest building before fatally shooting himself in a bathroom.

All the hostages were freed unharmed, along with more than 200 people trapped in their offices during the standoff.

Others trapped in the building fled down fire escapes in the 35-story Rembrandt Tower, which houses 56 companies.

The man's identity was not released.

Just after the workday began, the man pulled the automatic weapon from a suitcase and seized 18 hostages in the lobby, demanding media attention for complaints about Royal Philips Electronics.

Witnesses said the man waved the gun at the doormen of the building, formerly the headquarters of the company, and ordered workers to hang signs in the windows denouncing the head of the electronics giant as a liar.

Police said the man had explosives, but they were not powerful enough to damage the building or endanger people.

During tense telephone negotiations, the man released two men and six women.

At the end, he asked the police negotiator for a few minutes to "consider his options and further demands," then went to the bathroom where he put a gun to his head, District Attorney Leo de Wit said.

Mark Herveys, who was briefly taken hostage, said the gunman grabbed him as he came into the door on his way to work, put the gun to his chest and told him to stand with other hostages.

"At first I thought it was a joke," he said.

Herveys said the man remained "extremely calm," and kept taking hostages until he could no longer manage the number. When the man pulled a large suitcase from behind the reception desk, "the first thing that came to my mind was explosives," Herveys said.

After being held for about 20 minutes, Herveys said he and a few others slipped out the back door while the gunman was distracted.

De Wit said the gunman remained in the lobby all day and rarely got up from his chair, only leaving to take his life.

In a statement faxed to the media, the gunman complained about what he said were problems of viewing movies on wide screen TVs and said buyers of the televisions were being misled.