From KTVZ.COM news sources

It had all the trappings of a real-life hostage drama - heavily armed police swarm a southern Bend department store, guns drawn, hostages herded onto the roof by a gunman all in black, holding a revolver - but as the warning signs advised onlookers it was all a drill.

Still, Monday's Bend police and State Police training exercise was an unusual, if not unique use of the former Gottschalk's department store, which has sat empty for months, and brought many curious onlookers to the scene.

Police scanner traffic also sounded quite real, talking of hostages being released and a fire department ladder needing to be used to help a man on the roof who scrawled a large sign indicating he was afraid of heights.

Then came the careful, methodical search of the building's interior for one or more "bad guys."

Officers used blueprints to move carefully through the large two-story building and make sure they weren't making themselves vulnerable to any gun-wielding hostage-takers still inside. Hushed communications kept the officers in close contacted with one another.

We'll have video from the scene on tonight's newscasts at 5, 6 10 and 11, and talk with police about the value such a real-life drill can provide, should the worst come to pass one day.