HIALEAH, Fla.

Police say man killed six, set fire and took hostages

A man set fire to his South Florida apartment, killed six people, and held another two hostage at gunpoint before a SWAT team stormed the complex and fatally shot him Saturday, according to police and witness accounts.

The ordeal lasted eight hours, with Pedro Vargas running through the building, firing at random and eluding officers for part of it, police said.

Vargas, 43, set a combustible liquid on fire on Friday evening to start the blaze, police spokesman Carl Zogby said.

The building manager and his wife noticed smoke and ran to the apartment.

Vargas came out and shot several times, killing both of them, according to the police account. Vargas then went to his fourth-story balcony and fired 10 to 20 shots into the street, killing a man who was parking a car outside, before running through the building, shooting the others.

Zogby called Vargas’ background “unremarkable.” He said police are investigating any possible disputes between Vargas and the building manager but don’t yet have any information on a possible motive. “Nobody seems to know why he acted the way he acted,” Zogby said.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.

NBC has hopes for series on Hillary Rodham Clinton

A Hillary Rodham Clinton miniseries timed to precede the 2016 presidential election is part of NBC’s effort to create “event” programming that will draw viewers to the shrinking world of broadcast network TV, NBC’s programming chief said Saturday.

“We need to be in the event business. I think you’re going to hear that from every broadcast network,” said Bob Greenblatt, NBC Entertainment chairman.

The four-hour miniseries “Hillary,” starring Diane Lane as the former first lady and secretary of state, is one such bid for distinctive programming, he said.

The goal is to woo viewers who are increasingly drawn away by cable TV’s eye-catching, critically acclaimed fare like “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” and other media choices.

— From news service reports