VALPARAISO, Indiana ? A coroner reportedly said Saturday that a 48-year-old Texas man allegedly took hostages in a northwestern Indiana realty office and held police at bay for several hours before shooting himself twice in the head.
Porter County Coroner Chuck Harris said Roy L. Ferguson, of Fulshear, Texas, suffered three gunshot wounds before dying, likely from two different weapons, on Friday.
The coroner said Ferguson died at 6:30 p.m., two hours after the end of the nearly seven-hour standoff at Prudential Executive Group Real Estate office in Valparaiso, about 40 miles southeast of Chicago.
?The likelihood of all three gunshot wounds coming from the same weapon is not good,? Harris said.
He said that wouldn?t be confirmed until an autopsy is performed. It had not yet been scheduled because of Memorial Day weekend.
Valparaiso Police spokesman Sgt. Michael Grennes said Saturday that Ferguson had only one firearm ? a handgun. Grennes also said the SWAT officers who rushed inside the office after hearing gunshots at 4:30 p.m. did not fire on Ferguson, but officers exchanged gunfire with Ferguson when the standoff started.
Asked Saturday if police had shot Ferguson, Grennes said, ?It?s under investigation.?
The Times of Munster posted a video report on its website showing police officers crawling through a window of a Valparaiso house owned and rented out by Ferguson to execute a search warrant. The newspaper said Ferguson moved to Texas about four years ago after his wife died.
Meanwhile, police received a 911 call around 10 a.m. Friday reporting a man with a gun had entered the brokerage office, Grennes said. There were fewer than 10 people in the building when the incident began, he said.
One of them was accountant Carolyn Biesen. She was in her office when she heard a commotion near the front desk. Biesen walked out, saw a man standing over her injured co-worker on the ground and yelled at him to leave.
?That?s when he pulled his gun out ? and pointed it in the air,? she told The Associated Press late Friday, several hours after she and several other people were taken hostage.
Biesen, 51, retreated back into her office, locked herself in, shoved a file cabinet in front of the door and called 911. Curled up under her desk, she heard two gunshots, then several more in rapid succession.
Police said later that Ferguson was looking for someone he believed owed him money when he went into the Prudential Executive Group Real Estate office in Valparaiso on Friday morning.
Valparaiso Police Chief Michael Brickner said officers believe Ferguson shot himself twice in the head before SWAT members broke windows and stormed inside less than two hours after the last two hostages had been released unharmed.
An ambulance rushed Ferguson to a hospital, where he died, police said. No hostages reported being shot, though Grennes said one person who was struck in the head was treated and released from a hospital.
Mack Elliott, an agent at the brokerage, wasn?t in the office Friday but said he spoke with agents who were present. He believes the incident stemmed from a dispute over a real estate transaction.
Mfrances is a news writer for NinjaCOPS.com where you can get high quality?self defense weapons,?rechargeable stun gun flashlights, and?law enforcement stun guns.
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