Firefighters tried to save man who took them hostage

We've learned a new detail about Wednesday's firefighter hostage situation in Suwanee, Georgia that reveals the true mindset of a rescue worker.

Richard Sangster with WOKV's partner WSB-TV in Atlanta joined host Rich Jones on Thursday's Jacksonville's Morning News to share the remarkable story.

He says the 55 year-old suspect held the firefighters hostage for about four hours before the SWAT team decided to throw a flashbang grenade and rescue them.

"[The suspect] was shot, fatally shot," Sangster says.  "But the firefighters who were in danger of losing their own lives just moments before, they went ahead and tried to save the life of this man.  They actually performed CPR on him and tried to save his life before the ambulance crew could get to him."

Here in Jacksonville, firefighters are keeping their brethren in their thoughts after the ordeal. Firefighter Randy Wyse says he's not surprised at all that the firefighters in Georgia gave the gunman CPR and tried to save him even after he had held them hostage for hours.

"Most people are going to go 'let him lay there!' but that's just inbred in firefighters."

Wyse says life and death situations happen in his job a lot more often than people think, and when they do he says you have to rely on your training and handle the situation as best you can.