US college hostage-taker shot dead by police

A gunman who took at least a dozen people hostage in a US college classroom before was shot dead by police. Two hostages were wounded during the nine-hour stand-off.

Police heard gunshots from inside the building at Dyersburg State Community College in Tennessee at around 11pm local time yesterday (4am Irish time today). The gunman, 26-year-old Harold Kilpatrick Jr, had left a note saying he “wanted to kill some people and die today”.