Chief: Shooting of hostage taker 1st for 2 snipers

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — Fort Wayne police say the shooting that killed a man holding a 3-year-old boy hostage this week was the first for the two snipers involved.

Chief Rusty York tells The Journal Gazette (http://bit.ly/Zhx7ez ) the snipers were about 40 to 60 yards from the house where the suspect was holed up when they took the shots that killed suspect Kenneth Knight on Wednesday.

Police say Knight had pulled an estranged girlfriend off a Citilink bus earlier in the day and fatally shot her.

York says the snipers had been told to shoot if they could fire without risking the boy's life. The boy wasn't harmed.

The officers and the lead negotiator in the hostage situation have been placed on a five-day paid administrative leave according to department policy.

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Information from: The Journal Gazette, http://www.journalgazette.net