Updated: Thu Oct. 22 2009 10:46:40

ctvedmonton.ca

Edmonton police have confirmed that the man who entered the Workers' Compensation Board building in downtown Edmonton Wednesday armed with a gun has surrendered to police without incident.

An armed man entered the building at 9912- 107 Street just after 8:30 a.m. Eight hostages were being held in the building and CTV News was told all the hostages were unharmed.

"Everybody is safe. There's no physical harm to anybody," said Insp. Terry Rocchio with the Edmonton Police Service.

Rocchio said the hostages were taken to police headquarters where they were interviewed by investigators. Police said the armed man was "disgruntled with the WCB".

And while police have not provided any further detail about the man at the centre of the drama, CTV News received an e-mail earlier in the afternoon from a man who claimed to be the hostage taker. In the note, he claims he was injured by a doctor during a medical procedure and that he's been fighting to get a claim for the damage.

He wrote: "...Dealing with this for the last 5 years and have been heavily medicated (with) narcotics, painkillers and anti-inflammatories. Upon telling WCB caseworkers and supervisors about the doctor ripping my knee, I was told that I was a liar... Been fighting back and forth with WCB to give fairness one way or another with my mistreatment and was treated like s--t. They cut me off medications (and) had to resort to street drugs."

According to Edmonton police spokesperson Jeff Wuite, shortly before 9 a.m., a 911 call was received stating that a man had entered the WCB building with a gun.

A WCB spokesperson told CTV News they believe that the gunman was a WCB claimant.

The police tactical unit, a negotiating team and officers from the local division descended on the area and began to evacuate people from the building.

"I was on the eighth floor and when we heard something happen, people started to try and leave and slowly people have been filtering out," said Chad who works on the eighth floor.

While there were no official reports of any shots being fired, witnesses told CTV News that they heard a loud bang.

"One of the ladies that I work with she was in the elevator and she heard a loud bang. She came upstairs to tell us and we started looking out of the windows ourselves ... (we) saw all the police arriving," said Terri.

Wuite said police surrounded the building and continued to be in communication with the gunman via telephone throughout the day. Several streets in the area were cordoned off for most of the day.

Police led WCB employees to nearby running ETS buses to stay warm outside the old Federal Building near the Alberta Legislature.

WCB employee Zahara Amiri never made it into work Wednesday morning but told CTV News this particular incident appears to be rare.

"It seems there's a stigma attached to the WCB where a lot of people are upset but I've worked there for about three years now and it's a very rare incident...you've got a couple of protesters here and there but never anything like this," said Amiri. "I'm just worried about the safety of the people inside the building now."

Approximately 700 people work in the building.

With files from Rob McAnally, Kevin Armstrong, Serena Mah and Bill Fortier