BREAKING NEWS

Gunman and hostage killed in Louisiana bank standoff

By REUTERS

AUGUST 14, 2013 13:01

NEW ORLEANS - A US police SWAT team stormed a rural Louisiana bank early on Wednesday, killing a gunman after he shot two hostages, one of whom later died.

In a dramatic end to a 12-hour standoff, State Police spokesman Albert Paxton said officers entered the bank in the small town of St. Joseph shortly after midnight because the gunman was threatening to kill one or both of his hostages.

The man, identified as 20-year-old Fuaed Abdo Ahmed, shot both hostages when police entered the building. Police then shot and killed him, Paxton said.

"He was angry and he wanted to kill hostages," Paxton said of the gunman, who initially took three bank employees hostage but released one woman after several hours.

The two wounded hostages were rushed to local hospitals but one of them later died, said State Police Sergeant Eric Cuenca. The other was in critical condition. The names of the hostages were not immediately released.

Ahmed was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and had complained of hearing voices, police said. The gunman's family owned a convenience store in the town.

Ahmed was the California-born son of Yemeni parents. Police said there was no indication of any link to recent threats of attacks on the United States originating from Yemen.

"We don't have any reason to believe there was any connection," Paxton said.

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