A 22-year-old man was shot dead by specialist French police on suspicion of killing five members of his family, including three children, on Wednesday, reports The Independent.
He was allegedly armed with a long-barrelled rifle and a Japanese sword as he held his relatives hostage in a house in Douvres, Ain, in eastern France from Tuesday evening, Agence France Presse reported.
Le Progrès, a regional newspaper, reported that the man was shot around midday on Wednesday by the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN), which specialises in hostage situations and counter-terror, after police arrived to the house at 11.30pm on Tuesday.
The paper reported that the man was understood to have killed his father, mother-in-law, 17-year-old sister, 15-year-old half-sister and 5-year-old half-brother.
Christophe Rode, prosecutor for Bourg-en-Bresse, seat of the Ain region, said the hostage taker was thought to have “suffered from psychiatric disorders”, in comments printed across France.