The house was foreclosed upon in November and was being prepared for sale, said Brad German, a spokesman for Freddie Mac....Ritter, the police spokesman, said that the unidentified gunman started making demands related to the house after taking the firefighters hostage. "The power was turned off along with the cable and cell phone and so on, and he wanted all those things turned back on," said Ritter, adding that "apparently he was going through some financial issues."