Police kill armed hostage taker in Paris

Police, returning fire, shot to death an armed man holding five hostages in a local post office west of Paris, officials said. The hostages were freed unharmed after their three-hour ordeal. The man, described as a 25-year-old local resident, tried to hold up the post office in Lemay, some 65 kilometers west of Paris in the Yvelines region, police said. An official of the prefecture for the Yvelines region, Nathalie Colin, said police of the elite RAID rapid intervention force shot the man to death after he fired on them. The man, not identified by name, entered the post office at about 4 p.m, demanding money. He took five people hostage, at one point setting garbage cans on fire, police said.