Hostage standoff in Bell ends safely

BELL, Calif. - A nearly six-hour hostage standoff at a motel room ended early Friday when a SWAT team burst into the room and found it empty, police said.

The situation began around 9 p.m. Thursday when Bell Police got a call from a man who said two of his cousins and an uncle were being held hostage by four men with a handgun in a room of the Pioneer Inn and Suites on Atlantic Boulevard, Lt. Tony Dannan said.

Police evacuated the motel and a surrounding four-block area, including some homes, and requested help from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's SWAT team.

Hostage negotiators repeatedly called the motel room and tried to communicate with the suspected hostage takers via a bullhorn, but got no response.

As the night wore on, police began to suspect the room was empty.

There was no sound inside except from a television, and the 32-year-old Los Angeles resident who'd originally called police said his relatives had contacted him to say they were free.

At 2:45 a.m. Friday police broke into the room. No one was inside.

Dannan said he suspected ''they'd all gone to a room to conduct business together and it went sour,'' but he declined to specify what business.

He said police didn't have leads on the suspects or know exactly why they let their victims go or how they left the motel without being detected. He declined to identify the man who made the initial contact with police.

No one was injured in the standoff, Dannan said.