OAK CITY, N.C. -- A 16-hour standoff between a hostage-holding bank robber and police ended early Tuesday with two people dead and two wounded, police said.
The 12:45 a.m. shootout capped an incident that began around 9 a.m. Monday, when the robber shot and killed a sheriff who was responding to a robbery call from a bank.
After almost 16 hours of unsuccessful negotiations, the suspect tried to make his way out the front door of the bank with the hostages in front of him. Negotiators talked with him for about 10 minutes and he headed back inside -- where he was met by a SWAT team that had slipped in the back door. That's when the shooting started.
Martin County police Lt. Albert Roberson said one hostage was killed, one was wounded and the suspect, identified as Larry D. Jones, was hit as well. Roberson said Jones was armed with a 9mm semiautomatic but it was not immediately known if he shot the hostages or if they were caught in the crossfire.
Roberson said Jones, 37, was in critical condition at a local hospital. Roberson said Jones was 'originally from Oak City, but had been living up north.'
Roberson said he did not know of a motive and there was no word on how many shots were fired inside. State and federal charges are pending.
The hostages were cleaning company employees -- Jean Wiggins, who was killed, and her husband, Ernest.
Roberson said Jones shot Ernest Wiggins in the leg a few hours into the standoff. He is also in critical condition and Roberson did not know if he suffered a second would during the shootout,
This small town, about 50 miles southwest of Norfolk, Va., came to a standstill Monday as SWAT teams, FBI agents and state police descended on the scene and surrounded the bank.
It started when employees of the Branch Banking and Trust Co. called police before the bank opened 'because something didn't look right,' said bank spokesman Ken Hamrick.
Police chief Kevin Byers was the first to arrive. He was shot at and returned fire, and then Martin County Sheriff Jerry Beach arrived.
Authorities said Beach went around to the back of the bank to talk to the gunman, but was shot instead. The 57-year-old Beach, a 33-year law enforcement veteran, died a half hour later at a local hospital.
As police surrounded the building, they learned that two cleaning people were inside. The state police bureau of investigation then established a phone line and began negotiations.
Roberson said 'random shots were fired inside the bank' while negotiations were in progress.
