EDMONTON — A hostage-taking at the Workers Compensation Board building in downtown Edmonton continues, with reports indicating that one hostage has been released.

A gunman entered the building at 9912 107th Street at 8:30 a.m. with his rifle. He then went past both the unarmed security guard who was on duty at the time and the pass system to control access into the building, said Dayna Therien, spokeswoman for the WCB.

Therien confirmed that the man was a client of the WCB. Police have not yet positively identified all of the hostages, but do have a suspect.

There were 700 people in the building at the time. Therien said that everyone except the hostages are now believed to be safely out of the building.

A witness on one of the buses for evacuated employees said WCB president Guy Kerr boarded the bus and told everyone that one of the hostages has been released, and that negotiations were continuing.

One person was taken away by ambulance; police say the individual was apparently suffering from a stress or an anxiety attack.

Evacuated employees, coatless, hugging and crying, were ushered onto city buses to keep warm to be debriefed by police. The WCB was sending people home by taxi, as many of them couldn’t access their vehicles or had left their purses inside, said Therien.

One employee, who works on the eighth floor, told reporters that she heard on shot fired. Therien could not confirm the information.

Police have set up a phone lined for concerned family members at 780-421-3550, because 9-1-1 was getting flooded with calls. They said the line is not meant for media calls or general inquiries, and asks citizens who call to provide the specific name of the family member they are inquiring about.

Area buildings, including the Matrix Hotel and the Capital Health main office building, continued to be under lockdown. Police said there are no plans to evacuate area buildings, citing safety concerns.

Normally bustling with government workers going for lunch, the corner of 107th Street and 99th Avenue at noon Wednesday was populated solely by Edmonton police officers, some taking cover behind trees, others behind parked cars.

Workers said they saw a nervous-looking man with a long case sitting on a large plant pot outside the building earlier Wednesday morning.

Contract electrician Brad Herhauf was working inside the building when WCB employees told him a man with a gun was wandering around.

Herhauf was in the data centre at the time and was one of the last people evacuated, he said.

The evacuation was hectic, and several people were crying as they got out of the building, he added. Herhauf said he had heard the gunman is on the eighth floor and that there are hostages. One employee said police told him the man asked to speak with his WCB case worker in Calgary.

A woman who was smoking outside said she saw a man walk into the building but did not see a gun.

“The security guard came running around the door,” said the woman, who did not want to be identified. “He said, ‘Just run. Go.’”

Another person who works in the building said police told him at least eight people were being held hostage on the eighth floor where customer service is located. Police have not confirmed how many hostages there are.

Rene Gobeil, a research assistant with R.A. Malatest Ltd. in the building across the street from the WCB, said he started to see police activity shortly after he arrived at work around 8:15 a.m.

“Then a co-worker came in around 10 (minutes) to 9 and said police were cordoning off the street,” said Gobeil, whose third-floor office overlooks 100th Avenue.

“I can see the 107th Street and 100th Avenue intersection from my window,” said Gobeil, “and there’s a whole lot of cop cars, and the police tactical unit.”

The WCB has for several years had a policy of checking whether claimants have criminal records and flags those who do as a safety precaution for staff handling the claims.

The board said the practice was initiated in response to previous violent incidents at board offices in Edmonton and Calgary.

In past years, there have been several serious incidents of frustrated injured workers exploding with anger.

In 1991, a worker committed suicide with a gun in a Calgary WCB parking lot.

In 1993, a shotgun-toting worker took several hostages at the Calgary office in 1993 before surrendering.

The WCB had direct access to claimant criminal records until 1996, but now must do the checks through city police.

The WCB is a no-fault insurance system that was established in 1918 to compensate workers for their work-related injuries. The program, established by the Alberta government, is funded through premiums paid by employers.

As a trade-off Albertans covered by WCB cannot sue their employers for work-related injuries. Over the years, there have been many calls for an overhaul of the system to make it more fair to injured workers and a new appeal process was established for workers whose claims have been rejected.

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