A hostage situation was brought to an end in Charleston, South Carolina, in the United States after police shot a “disgruntled employee” who gunned down a person, critically wounded another and took several patrons at a restaurant hostage on Thursday. Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg told reporters that it was “not act of terrorism”, and that the hostages were safely released, CNN reported.

“This is not a hate crime,”he said. “It’s a disgruntled employee who has come on the scene of his employment...He took his anger into his own hands.”

The shooting was reported around noon, and people were asked to avoid the area around the Virginia’s on King restaurant. A representative of the group that owns the establishment, John Aquino, said that the gunman was a former dishwasher at the restaurant and the victim was a chef.

Witnesses said the shooter, described as an older man, had barged barged into the restaurant after noon, locked the door and shouted, “I am the new king of Charleston”, according to a local newspaper The Post and Courier.