Hostage Taker Shot Dead by SWAT Unit

Long Beach police fatally shot a man Monday who had taken a woman hostage and threatened to kill her, a department spokeswoman said.

The incident began at an apartment building in the 1700 block of East Ocean Boulevard about 2:15 p.m. when an apartment manager found a note outside the unit that read “Help me 911,” investigators said.

The manager, who told police that he had heard screaming and yelling at the apartment earlier in the day, called police.

“The manager said screams were not uncommon in that particular building,” said Officer Jackie Bezart.

No one answered when responding officers knocked on the door, Bezart said, but the officers heard noises and screaming inside.

The woman yelled, “Help, he’s going to kill me,” Bezart said.

Officers said they looked in a window and saw a woman whose ankles were bound.

Although her hands were free, she could not reach the door, police said.

A man yelled that he was holding the woman hostage, that he had a gun and that he was going to kill her, Bezart said.

A SWAT unit was called in and the man was shot to death, Bezart said. The woman, who had been beaten, was taken to a hospital.

Their identities were not released.