Police shoot dead a hostage taker in Louisiana

Police shot dead a man who took hostages at a bank in rural Louisiana after he fired at two of his victims.

The suspect, identified as Fuaed Abdo Ahmed, told negotiators he was going to kill the hostages during a near 12-hour stand-off late last night.

State police entered the building just before midnight, at which point Ahmed, believed to be in his 20s, shot two hostages, a woman and a man, in the upper body. He had already released one female hostage.

Their condition is unknown but they were believed to be alive but critical when they were rushed to hospital.

Louisiana State Police superintendent Colonel Mike Edmondson said Ahmed was a paranoid schizophrenic and that the situation was not a bank robbery attempt but a planned attack.

“He was mad at people that he said were mean to him,” Edmonson said. “He had voices in his head.”

Ahmed, armed with a handgun and rifle, took the three people hostage at 12.30pm at the Tensas State Bank branch in St. Joseph. Col Edmonson said he used the handgun to shoot the two remaining hostages.