A man is allegedly holding hostages and has explosives on Main Street in Wytheville Virginia Post Office Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009. ©AP

BEIJING, Dec. 24 — An eight-hour hostage standoff at a post office in Virginia, U.S. ended late Wednesday, with an armed, disabled man taken into custody, said media reports.

The man, in a wheelchair, entered the post office in Wytheville at about 2:30 p.m. local time (1930 GMT) and fired a shot, Wytheville Mayor Trent Crewe told reporters earlier.

Officials initially said the man had taken five people hostage, including three postal workers and two customers. But two postal workers managed to escape as the case unfolded.

No one was injured, and the disabled man’s motive was still unclear, said the local police.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service earlier said the man made no demands other than to ask for a pizza.

Virginia state police confirmed that there were shots fired in the incident. A SWAT team and a bomb technician were sent to the scene.

Wytheville is a small rural town in southeastern Virginia at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains with a population of just over 8,000. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/24/content_12698817.htm