Standoff at Buffalo pawn shop ends with suspect's suicide, police say

Police say a four-hour standoff that began when a gunman took three hostages inside a Buffalo pawn shop has ended with the suspect's suicide.

Buffalo police spokesman Michael DeGeorge says the gunman died from a self-inflicted gunshot shortly after 1:30 p.m. Thursday. DeGeorge says the man had been described throughout the ordeal as distraught.

He says three hostages were unharmed.

Police were called around 9:30 a.m. to Metro Loan Pawnbrokers on Broadway, a few blocks from city hall, for a report of a man with a gun holding someone hostage.

SWAT team members responded with an armored vehicle and officers blocked off several roads around the shop.

The suspect's name hasn't been released. DeGeorge declined to speculate on the man's motive.