Child Safe After Indiana Hostage Situation

A child held hostage by a man suspected of fatally shooting a woman in broad daylight is safe and the suspect is dead, police have said.

Police said SWAT officers had surrounded the Fort Wayne house where the man had holed up with the boy.

WANE TV reports that police said officers had a clear shot at the suspect and took it, killing him with a single sniper shot. They were then able to rescue the toddler.

Police identified the suspect as Kenneth Knight, 45.

Knight was suspected of pulling a female passenger from the bus at 8 am on Wednesday, then fatally shooting her about 25 feet away in front of multiple witnesses.

He then fled on foot into a nearby neighbourhood, where he locked himself in a house with the toddler.

The suspect’s relationship to the woman and to the child being held hostage is unclear.

The shooting victim was identified as 49-year-old Jacqueline Bouvier Hardy. She and the suspect had been riding on the bus at the same time, but it is not yet clear whether they were companions.

However police Spokeswoman Raquel Foster said that shooting is not believed to be random, and that police “have a good idea of who [they are] looking for”.

Foster said a protective order had been taken out against Knight in the past few days, but did not say who had filed it.