Developing: Department of Correction Response Teams and the Delaware State Police are currently responding to a hostage situation at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center (JTVCC) in Smyrna, Delaware. According to initial reports from Delaware Online, inmates of the correctional facility have taken over a building and are thought to be holding multiple officers hostage.
Rep. William Carson, a member of the House Corrections Committee, said he had been told it was an “apparent hostage situation.”
“The inmates have taken over a building,” he said.
Geoffrey Klopp, president of the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware, confirmed to ABC that prison guards had been taken hostage but did not provide any further details.
JTVCC houses about 2,500 prisoners and, as a Level 5 facility, includes some of the state's most violent criminals.
The JTVCC released the following statement:
DOC have officially confirmed that it's a hostage situation at Vaughn Correctional Center. #netde pic.twitter.com/jArSxOESh9
— Brittany Horn (@brittanyhorn) February 1, 2017
Here is a live feed of the scene from CBS Philly:
http://up.anv.bz/latest/anvload.html
#Breaking All Delaware prisons on lockdown - Hostage situation at Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna https://t.co/735qxRYfw1 pic.twitter.com/xsSMjVQ1WF
— NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) February 1, 2017
View from #Chopper3 outside Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna, DE, where officials confirm an active hostage situation is ongoing. pic.twitter.com/nT04aiZsIo
— Joe Holden (@JoeHoldenCBS3) February 1, 2017