Man Kills Ex-Girlfriend, Then Is Slain by Police : Crime: Parolee holds woman and her ex-husband hostage and shoots her to death when she tries to take his gun. He is killed after a standoff with SWAT team at a North Hollywood motel.

A convicted wife abuser held his former girlfriend and her ex-husband hostage for several hours before killing the woman and fleeing to a North Hollywood motel, where he was shot to death Wednesday by SWAT officers, Los Angeles police said.

Jeffrey Wade May, 40, was killed at a motel after officers evacuated surrounding houses and tried without success to talk May into surrendering, police said.

The dead woman was identified as May’s former girlfriend, Margaret Leithe, 34, of North Hollywood. Police said Leithe was shot several times in the upper torso about 12:20 a.m. when she tried to flee her rented home in the 6400 block of Bonner Avenue after struggling with May over his gun.

A man in the house with Leithe, identified as her ex-husband, Joel Ricketts, fled during the struggle and phoned police, authorities said.

A passing patrol officer spotted May’s car at the motel Wednesday morning, and a special weapons and tactics team was called in.

Occupants of the motel at 10750 Magnolia Boulevard said police negotiated with May, on parole after a burglary sentence, for three hours before he was killed. “They tried very hard to get the guy to come out without any violence,” said Wesley Tegeant, 35.

Tegeant was staying in a room on the first floor of the motel, three doors down from where May was holed up. “They asked him if he wanted to call his parents in Washington,” Tegeant said.

Witnesses said that because there were no phones in the room, negotiations were carried out by shouting. May stopped responding when police asked how many guns he had with him, Tegeant said.

About 2:20 p.m., tear gas was fired into the room, and May opened the door, stood in the doorway and put a .22-caliber handgun to his head, said Lt. William Hall, supervisor of the Officer Involved Shooting Unit.

Police tried to talk to May, but he did not respond, Hall said. When May pointed his gun at Officer Ralph Morten, who was standing in a doorway two rooms down, Morten fired once, hitting May in the head and killing him, Hall said.

May had a criminal record that included four convictions for spousal abuse. Other convictions include those for carrying a loaded firearm and burglary, for which he was on parole.

May and Leithe had dated for several years and had a child together. Their 15-month-old-boy was in the house but was unharmed, police said.

Leithe was so frightened of May that she asked her former husband, Ricketts, to move in with her, police said. Neighbors said she and May frequently fought.

Leithe had two other children--8- and 13-year-old girls--but they reportedly were with their grandparents Tuesday night, police said.

Police said that when Leithe and Ricketts returned home Tuesday night from an open house at Chandler Elementary School, which one of her children attends, May was waiting for them with a gun and took them hostage.

Over the next four hours, police said, May periodically beat Leithe and told his hostages he was going to “end it all.”

May ordered Leithe to tie up Ricketts with duct tape. When May put his gun down to improve the bonds, Leithe grabbed it. But he wrested the gun away from her and she ran into the front yard, where he shot her several times, police said.

May then fled. The SWAT team moved in at the motel about 11 a.m.