NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- A hostage standoff at the state's largest mental institution ended tragically Friday when a fired employee killed one hostage and critically wounded the other after police broke a window to get a better look at him, authorities said.
Dennis Czajkowski, a former nurse at Norristown State Hospital who had held the hostages since Wednesday, shot and killed nursing supervisor Carol Kepner, state police spokesman Robert Whitbeck said.Czajkowski shot a second hostage, Maria Jordan, who was flown to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Whitbeck said. She was in critical condition.
Czajkowski, 40, who apparently had been angry over being fired from his job, was taken away by medical helicopter with unspecified injuries. He also was in critical condition. Whitbeck said police did not fire any shots at him.
"He was terminated and the two women he is holding were part of that decision," Whitbeck said earlier.