Gunman, hostage dead at NASA building, police say

[jaishalmujahideen]

Gunman, hostage dead at NASA building, police say
POSTED: 7:48 p.m. EDT, April 20, 2007

Story Highlights• Gunman dies of apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to head, police say
• Police: Gunman killed one hostage, another hostage taken to hospital
• Shootings happened at NASA's Johnson Space Center
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HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- A hostage situation at an office building on the sprawling campus of Johnson Space Center ended Friday with the gunman and a hostage dead, a police spokesman said.

Houston Police Capt. Dwayne Ready said that a second hostage was found taped up but otherwise unharmed and was being checked by paramedics.

"I do not have any names at this time," Ready said.

John Prosser, CFO of Jacobs Engineering, a NASA contractor with its headquarters in Pasadena, California, said the gunman was an employee of his company.

"We are cooperating with NASA and law enforcement in their efforts," Prosser said.

The situation started at about 1:40 p.m. (2:40 p.m. ET) when police responded to a call that a person with a gun had entered Building 44 at the space complex. A witness reported two gunshots at the time, Ready said. (Watch employees being evacuated after gunfire is heard )

"While they [SWAT teams] were trying to establish communication, they heard an additional gunshot," he said.

Believing the suspect may have shot himself, they decided to move in and found that he had committed suicide.

"Also on the same floor was one other hostage that was shot," Ready said. "We believe that may have happened early on in the whole ordeal."

Ready said the gun used was a short-barreled handgun, possibly a .38 or .357. He said the dead hostage was a man and the surviving hostage was a woman.

NASA spokesman James Hartsfield said Building 44 is a small office building on the campus.

"I don't have an exact number of people in that building [but] they evacuated the building," he said.

Hartsfield said that NASA security rules do not allow weapons on the property.

Hartsfield said that initially, NASA advised all employees to remain inside, but had since said that they are all free to go home at the end of their workdays.

Center operations experienced no disruptions, he said.

In a statement on its Web site, Johnson Space Center said that "Building 44 is a communications and engineering office building with two stories. The building primarily consists of office space and a few labs to support tracking of spacecraft, such as the International Space Station and the space shuttle when it's flying."

Nearby Space Center Intermediate School was placed on lockdown temporarily, said Karen Permetti, spokeswoman for Clear Creek Independent School District.

The school has about 1,100 students, she said.