ASSOCIATED PRESS
Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson, left, tells reporters of the release of a female hostage as FBI Special Agent in Charge of the New Orleans Division Michael Anderson, right, listens during a nighttime news conference in St. Joseph, La., where a gunman took three people hostage at a Tensas State Bank branch, earlier Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2013.
Published Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2013 | 3:09 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2013 | 12:25 a.m.
ST. JOSEPH, La. — A man who took hostages at a bank in rural Louisiana shot the two remaining hostages before being shot and killed by police, authorities said.
During negotiations with law enforcement late Tuesday, the suspect — identified as Fuaed (FOO-od) Abdo Ahmed, who was believed to be in his 20s — said he was going to kill the hostages, Louisiana State Police superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson said. State police then entered the building just before midnight Tuesday.
That's when Ahmed shot the two hostages and then state police shot and killed him, Edmonson said. Edmonson said the hostages were shot in the upper body and taken from the scene in critical condition. He did not have any other information on their conditions but said both showed signs of life when they left the scene.
The hostages were both shot with a handgun, but Edmonson said Ahmed was also armed with a rifle.
The gunman initially took two women and a man captive about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Tensas State Bank branch in St. Joseph. He later released one of the female hostages.
Edmonson 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."
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