Updated: 2:10 p.m. 

JEFFERSON CITY | Police lowered barricades and reopened streets around 2 p.m., nearly four hours after an apparent hostage situation was reported in a downtown office building here.

Officials offered no statements, but it was clear there were no hostages or threat of danger.

Police will hold a press conference at 4 p.m.

Downtown Jefferson City was essentially shut down beginning shortly after 10 a.m., following a call to police from a private alarm company reporting a possible hostage situation in the Governor Office Building, a privately owned building across the street from the governor's mansion.

According to officials, an employee in the building heard something on a building intercom system that led her to believe a hostage situation was in progress. The employee reported that information to her boss, who then contacted Sonitrol, the building's security services provider. Sonitrol, in turn, contacted Jefferson City police, which initiated the response.

It is unclear at this time what exactly led to employee to believe a hostage situation was in progress.

Around noon, tactical teams from the Missouri Highway Patrol and Jefferson City Police Department began a sweep of the building, which contains several state offices, including the Public Service Commission.

Police searched rooms, evacuated employees and checked the identity of all occupants beginning at the top of the building, a process that took about two hours.

When that process was complete, law enforcement dispersed and reopened the surrounding streets to traffic.

Updated at 1:40 p.m.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) — Police surrounded an office building near the governor’s mansion on Tuesday after a report of a disturbance initially believed to be a hostage situation.

But they said there was no confirmation of hostages taken.

Police received a call around 10 a.m. from an alarm company, which had gotten a call from a woman who said there was a hostage situation on the fifth floor, Jefferson City police Capt. Mike Smith said.

 “We have not been able to confirm any of that,” Smith said. “We don’t know whether we have a prank call or someone who misunderstood the situation.”

 State employees in the building, reached by phone by The Associated Press, said an announcement over the intercom directed them to remain in their offices with the doors locked. Police later evacuated the building.

 A former hotel, the 10-story Governor Office Building is located across the street from the governor’s mansion, on the south side of the mansion’s grounds. It primarily houses the staff of the Missouri Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities. It also is home to the state’s consumer advocacy office and a development finance board.

Neither Gov. Jay Nixon nor his staff work in the building. Nixon was in Dallas at the time for a meeting but quickly returned to Missouri upon hearing of the situation, spokesman Jack Cardetti said.

Police blocked vehicle and pedestrian traffic near the building while a helicopter temporarily circled overhead and officers with guns positioned themselves around the building.

Mike Reid, a lobbyist for the Missouri School Boards’ Association, said he was attending a meeting at the association’s ground-level office when police approached the building with guns drawn.

Officers told meeting attendees to exit through a back door with their hands up and indicated there was a potential hostage situation, Reid said. After waiting for a while in a nearby restaurant, they were allowed to leave the scene, he said.

Mark Hughes, a staff adviser to Public Service Commissioner Jeff Davis, said the commission’s executive staff and safety officers had been in contact with employees on all nine floors that it occupies and nothing out of the ordinary had happened in any of the offices.

Hughes said police were evacuating the building floor by floor to conduct a more thorough search.

Public Counsel Lewis Mills, whose office is on the sixth floor, said nothing unusual happened in his office. An employee for the Missouri Development Finance Board, located on the 10th floor, also said nothing unusual occurred. 

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Updated 12:30 p.m.

 Jason Noble reports SWAT teams are going through the 10 story building floor by floor, evacuating and identifying employees as they go.

So far, no injuries, but the evacuation could take some time.

No indication this is a real hostage situation - it may just be a false alarm - but police are treating it as a hostage situation until they know it is not.

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Earlier

  Police say there's no confirmation of shots fired or hostages taken at a Jefferson City office building near the Governor's Mansion that's been under lockdown.

    Employees in the 10-story Governor Office Building were told over the intercom to remain in the offices with their doors locked. Police were gradually evacuating the building.

    The Governor Office Building primarily houses the staff of the Missouri Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities. It also is home to the state's consumer advocacy office and a development finance board.

    Employees connected with each of those offices were reached by telephone. None of those employees said anything unusual had happened.

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 Earlier

Two SWAT teams are entering the building.

No shots fired, authorities confirm.

Here's how it started. A woman on the building's 5th floor overheard something on an intercom that led her to believe there was a hostage situation.

A security firm was contacted, which called Jefferson City police, leading to the lockdown.

We'll update as more information becomes available.

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Statehouse correspondent Jason Noble just called in to report a possible hostage situation in Jeff City.

Noble said law enforcement officials told him the event is occurring in a building known as the Governor's Office Building  across the street from the governor's mansion on Capitol Avenue (not the state Capitol building).

   (UPDATE:  Here's Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder on Twitter talking about the incident.)

In the background as Noble talked: a law enforcement helicopter. He said officers with assault rifles were visible with one standing on the lawn of the governor's mansion itself. Lots of police cars, too.

But at the same time, Noble said office building workers could be seen in windows. One man held a cup of coffee in his hand. Police were not waving reporters away from the scene, which was a bit unusual.

More as we get it.