(CBS News) A man set fire to his South Florida apartment, killed six people, and held another two hostage at gunpoint before a SWAT team stormed the complex and fatally shot him Saturday, according to police and witness accounts.
“I’m heartbroken,” Mayor Carlos Hernandez told reporters during a Saturday afternoon news conference. “It’s an extremely sad day in Hialeah.”
The ordeal lasted eight hours, with Pedro Vargas running through the building, firing at random and eluding officers for part of it, police said.
Vargas, 43, set a combustible liquid on fire on Friday evening to start the blaze, police spokesman Carl Zogby said.
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