Bomb threat attack at US bank

A man who claimed to have a bomb that could “take out the room” yesterday barricaded himself inside a bank in the US city of Atlanta, sparking an hours-long standoff that forced police to bust through a brick wall of the building and later ended with the suspect’s death.

Cobb County Police Chief Mike Register did not offer details of how the man died. Two people were freed shortly after television TV footage showed a military-type vehicle smashing its way through the wall, raining bricks onto its hood. However, it is not clear if they escaped through the wall opening.

Several heavily armed police officers had converged on the bank earlier in the day. Police had said the man inside the bank branch near Marietta had made threats and was inside with an unknown number of employees.

Police had previously limited the amount of information they made public, saying the suspect might be monitoring news coverage and social media, officer Alicia Chilton said.