Snatched child shot in two-hour gun terror in US

A gunman was killed early today and a six-year-old boy he snatched from the pavement was shot in the leg during a two-hour stand-off with police.

The boy’s ordeal began when the man snatched the child and barricaded himself in a restaurant in El Monte, east of Los Angeles.

The man, whose name was not been released, was pronounced dead at the restaurant soon after gunshots were fired, said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt David Infante. He would not say who fired the shots or how the gunman died.

The gunman, wearing a camouflage jacket and jeans, grabbed the boy and took him into a back room of a Chinese restaurant where he held him hostage with a handgun, said Detective Ralph Batres.

Authorities negotiated with the man for about two hours before a flash-bang grenade exploded and gunshots were fired inside the building. Shortly afterwards, authorities took the boy out on a stretcher and put him in an ambulance.

The boy had a gunshot wound to the thigh and was in a critical but stable condition at a nearby hospital, said county fire dispatcher Brendon Peart.

Mr Batres said the stand-off began after a police officer saw the gunman grab the boy and head into the restaurant. The man ignored the officer’s orders to stop and barricaded himself inside a back room.

Police closed nearby streets and shoppers were evacuated from neighbouring stores as dozens of police and other emergency crews surrounded the restaurant.