Seven dead in Florida shooting

HIALEAH, Florida (AP):A gunman holding hostages inside a south Florida apartment complex killed six people before being shot to death by a SWAT team that stormed the building early yesterday following an hours-long stand-off, police said.

Sergeant Eddie Rodriguez told The Associated Press that the police received a call around 6:30 p.m. last Friday that shots had been fired in a building with dozens of apartments in Hialeah, just a few miles north of Miami.

Rodriguez said that when police arrived, they discovered an active-shooter situation: "He's inside the building, moving from floor to floor. Eventually, he barricades himself in an apartment."

A crisis team was able to briefly establish communication with the man. Rodriguez said negotiators and a SWAT team tried talking with him from the other side of the door of an apartment unit where he was holding two hostages.

But Rodriguez said the talks eventually "just fell apart". Officers stormed the building, fatally shooting the gunman in an exchange of gunfire.

"They made the decision to go in there and save and rescue the hostages," Rodriguez said.

KILLED IN HALLWAY

He said police discovered two people - a male and female - shot to death in the hallway in front of one unit. Three more, a male and two females, were found shot and killed in another apartment on a different floor.

Another man who was walking his children into an apartment across the street also was killed. Rodriguez said it wasn't immediately clear whether the gunman took aim at him from an upper-level balcony or if he was hit by a stray bullet.

In the large Miami suburb of Hialeah, the entrance to the quiet neighbourhood lined with apartment buildings was blocked off early Saturday.

The stand-off occurred in an ageing beige five-storey building with an open terrace in the middle.