Jersey police kill gunman
A gunman was shot and killed by cops Monday after holding two women hostage at a UPS warehouse in New Jersey.
The man, 39-year-old William Owens of Sicklerville, N.J., was pronounced dead at the scene. He was hit with gunfire from police after leaving the building with his hostages, according to the state attorney general’s office, and was armed with a handgun.
The women were not injured and all other employees got out of the building safely.
Family members defended the shooter, according to ABC6.
“He is a good guy. He would have trouble from time to time, you know, messing with the wrong female, if you know what I mean,” cousin Gail Wright told the outlet, noting that Owens had been struggling over the recent death of his brother.
The gunman entered the building in Logan Township, about 20 miles south of Philadelphia, shortly before 9:30 a.m. and fired shots. Hostage negotiators began talking to him by phone as he held the women in a barricaded room.
“I heard one of my fellow employees say, ‘Run, he’s got a gun,’ then I heard the little pop of the gun, I guess, and we all ran, and law enforcement took over,” employee Allen Anthony Dowling said.
One of the hostages was the gunman’s former girlfriend, according to NBC. Gloucester County prosecutor Charles Fiore told reporters there appeared to be a prior relationship between the gunman and one of the women.
A burst of gunfire was heard as Fiore was speaking with reporters shortly before noon.