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Four dead in Israeli bank shooting spree

BEERSHEBA, Israel, May 20 (UPI) -- At least four people were killed and several others injured Monday in a possible bank robbery gone wrong in Israel, police said.

An hour-long standoff with Beersheba police ended after the suspect released a hostage from inside the bank and then killed himself, Ynetnews.com reported.

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Survivors said the suspect, identified by police as a 40-year-old resident of Beersheba, did not demand any money after he entered the Hapoalim Bank.

Witnesses said the man shot a security guard and checked to make sure he was dead. The robber then reloaded and continued shooting. He checked the pulses of some of the victims to make sure they were dead.

"There probably was just one perpetrator, and at this point we're not sure that it was a robbery," said Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch.

Beersheba Mayor Ruvik Danilovich said: "This is not a classic case of heist. Maybe it's rather the work of a mentally unstable man."

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