By: A gunman already facing attempted murder charges barricaded himself inside an indoor shooting range with a group of hostages and held them for 10 hours before killing himself early Friday, authorities said. None of the hostages was hurt.
Jeffrey Lane Dudney, 43, of Tampa, went to the shooting range Thursday afternoon intending to steal a firearm and flee the area, Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said.
When someone confronted him, Dudney took five people hostage, including the woman who owned the Shooting Sports Inc. gun store and range, Gee said.
"Every two or three minutes, he was threatening to start shooting people one by one," Gee said. "He was very agitated, very amped up."
During the standoff, Dudney could be seen holding a pistol to the head of hostages. He said he didn't want to go to prison, Gee said. Dudney released two hostages during the negotiations, but because of the number of guns and amount of ammunition inside, police didn't want to storm the building, authorities said.
Around 3 a.m., Dudney killed himself with a gunshot blast to the upper body, authorities said.
"He told us earlier he was contemplating suicide," Gee said.
Dudney had been released from the Hillsborough County jail Saturday on $150,500 bond while facing three counts of attempted murder, according to jail records. He had been accused of firing a gun at witnesses who followed him after he was involved in a crash, Gee said.
During the standoff, police asked media outlets to refrain from reporting any information about the situation for fear of further upsetting the gunman. The Associated Press and some others accommodated the request while the hostages were being held; others reported it on Web sites.
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