LOGAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. — An armed man who entered a UPS processing facility Monday morning and held two women hostage for several hours was shot and killed by police as he left the building with the women, authorities said.
Several officers fired at William Owens, 39, of Sicklerville, New Jersey, the state Attorney General’s Office said in a news release that did not detail the situation or explain why the suspect was shot.
Owens had entered the business at about 8:45 a.m. and fired shots, which did not strike anyone, before taking the women to a room and barricading himself inside with them, authorities said. Officials believe that Owens had a prior relationship with one of the hostages, Gloucester County Prosecutor Charles Fiore said.
The women escaped without serious injuries after the standoff in Logan Township, about 20 miles south of Philadelphia, Fiore said.
“Multiple members of law enforcement fired at the man, who was armed with a handgun. He was pronounced dead at the scene,” the news release said.
“I heard one of my fellow employees say, ‘Run, he’s got a gun,’ then I heard the little pop of the gun, I guess, and we all ran and law enforcement took over,” employee Allen Anthony Dowling said.
Police evacuated the building and blocked access to the busy industrial park, and nearby schools were put on a modified lockdown.
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