Police officer and woman hostage shot in standoff at Texas hotel, gunman found dead inside

Wednesday, August 30th 2006, 8:37 am

By: News On 6

DALLAS (AP) _ A man took a woman hostage in an airport hotel room early Wednesday and shot through the wall at police, hitting one officer and sparking a standoff before apparently shooting himself, authorities said.

Dallas Police spokesman Lt. Rick Watson said the woman had two gunshot wounds as she emerged from the room about 3 hours later and told officers the man had shot himself. Their relationship and what sparked the shooting wasn't immediately clear.

The woman was in serious condition at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Watson said. Officer Jeremy Borchardt, also at Parkland, was in stable condition after surgery to repair a cut artery in his upper thigh, Watson said.

The standoff began after 911 operators received a call shortly after 4 a.m. reporting a person injured in a fourth-floor room at a Radisson Hotel near Dallas Love Field.

Paramedics arrived but weren't allowed in, Dallas fire-rescue spokeswoman Annette Ponce. The police officer then tried to enter the room and was shot through the wall from inside. The paramedics pulled the officer to safety, Ponce said.

Gerald Runnels, another officer at the hotel, said he tried to talk to the man and call him down before the shot was fired through the wall.

``I tried to talk him down,'' Runnels told KDFW-TV. ``I could hear him hitting the lady, I could hear the lady screaming, hollering for help.''