Louisiana Bank Hostage Standoff Ends With One Hostage And Gunman Dead
A Louisiana bank hostage standoff that started Tuesday afternoon has ended in tragedy. Local news source KNOE 8 said that Fresno, California student and gunman Fuaed Ahmed, 20, has now been killed by Louisiana State Police earlier on Wednesday morning.
To quickly recap the situation: The Louisiana State Police and FBI reported Tuesday that an armed gunman had taken three hostages at the Tensas State Bank in rural St. Joseph, Louisiana shortly after noon.
In the early reports, it wasn’t entirely clear why Ahmed had handcuffed the three hostages in the bank. Bank robbery looked like a possible motive, especially since another bank had been robbed about 100 miles away in rural Eunice.
However, KNOE said the motive now appears to be mental illness. During the course of the hostage negotiations, Ahmed said that a device had been implanted in his head that caused him to hear voices. He wanted the authorities to take it out.
Reporter Mark Boyle said that the police have also revealed that Ahmed had books on hostage negotiations and had been planning this attack for some time.
After hours of negotiation, Ahmed did release one of the hostages. The video up top showed the situation in the aftermath of the release.
However, he broke off negotiations over the other two victims shortly before midnight, saying he would kill them. That forced the hand of the state police, who then entered the building.
Ahmed shot both hostages in the upper body with a handgun. He was then killed by the police. One victim died of the serious injuries shortly after the rescue attempt.
The second is reportedly in critical condition.
There will be an extended report on the Louisiana bank hostage crisis on KNOE at 6:20 AM central time. You should definitely visit their site for a full update on the situation.
While Ahmed is of Yemini descent, he’s an American citizen. An Associated Press report confirmed that the cause of the attack on the Tensas State Bank isn’t thought to be terror related.
Louisiana State Police superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson said Ahmed left a detailed letter describing his plans to take human hostages. Apparently, the troubled student ranted about mean people and the device they put in his brain.
In a chilling twist, Edmonson revealed that Ahmed had brought a rifle and a bag of items described as torture devices along for the assault. It’s possible that Ahmed planned to torture the Louisiana bank hostage victims before he killed them.
