Negotiators with the North Hills special response team last night were trying to find a man calling himself "Sam," who called a local hospital and claimed to have killed two people.

The incident began about 5:30 p.m., when a phone call was made to UPMC South Side. The caller reported that he was in Pittsburgh at an address of 105 Lincoln. He claimed that he had shot two people and would kill more if he didn't receive money, said Millvale Police Chief Derek Miller.

The hospital routed the call to Allegheny County dispatchers, who first alerted the Bellevue police to go to 105 Lincoln Ave. in that borough.

Officers responded to that address but found nothing, Chief Miller said. Guessing that they were not at the correct Lincoln address, dispatchers alerted Millvale police to go to the same address in that borough.

Officer Scott Bailey, the first to arrive on the scene, immediately blocked Lincoln Avenue with his police cruiser and ordered everyone on the street to go into their houses.

The situation became complicated at that point, Chief Miller said.

A man inside the building at 105 Lincoln -- which includes a business on the first floor and an apartment upstairs -- looked out the window at officers several times but refused to answer the door.

Believing they had the right address, Millvale police alerted hostage negotiators and ultimately closed off the Millvale exit ramp on Route 28. They cordoned off a three-block section of Lincoln, Officer Bailey said.

However, after about 45 minutes, police learned again that they were at the wrong place. The two men who had ignored police commands to exit finally came out after talking to county dispatchers.

The reason they didn't respond to officers sooner, Chief Miller said, is because they are hearing impaired.

In the meantime, negotiators were continuing to speak with the man known as Sam.

"We're actually making contact with him," Chief Miller said. "He said he already killed two and would kill more if money wasn't wired."

The man, who spoke with a Jamaican accent, requested the money be sent via Western Union.

Because the caller was using a Jamaican cell phone, police were having difficulty pinpointing its exact location, the chief said. They called in the FBI by 8 p.m. in an attempt to triangulate its location with FBI equipment.