subjoin tokyoite: Seven killed, including gunman, in Florida shootout; 2 hostages rescued

SWAT officers shot and killed a man they say gunned down 6 people in Hialeah, Fla., ending an hours-long standoff. NBC's ?Bobby Brooks reports.

By Marian Smith and Matthew DeLuca, NBC News

SWAT officers shot and killed a gunman early Saturday after he killed 6 people, ending an hours-long standoff near Miami, Fla., police said.

Two people were rescued alive and unharmed from an apartment building where they were being held hostage, Hialeah police spokesman Sgt. Eddie Rodriguez told NBC News.

The SWAT team found the gunman barricaded on the fourth floor of the building, where they killed him and saved the two hostages.

NBC Miami

The building manager and her husband were found dead in a hallway and three others, two females and one male, were found in one of the apartments, Rodriguez said. Another man was found dead in the lobby of a building across the street.

"This is one of the worst shootings we've probably had ever in Hialeah," police spokesman Carl Zogby?told NBC Miami.

Police first responded to a 911 call at 6:30 p.m. ET Friday. They evacuated the apartment complex and shut down several surrounding streets.

Negotiators were talking to the gunman before the shootout and police sent a robot onto the scene.

?The end result: seven people have lost their lives in this incident, six innocent victims and the one shooter,? Zogby told the station. ?Now starts the investigation, how and why this happened.?

NBC Miami

A young woman told NBC Miami that two of the victims of the shooting were her parents.

?I guess there was an altercation and the person opened fire on both of them. My mom was dead the moment that she was shot and my dad still had a pulse when I got to him,? the woman said.

One of the victims appeared to have been shot at across the street from the main scene, police said, when the gunman opened fire from a balcony.

?From up there, he was able to shoot at people across the street, catching this one man who was just walking into his apartment,? Rodriguez told the Miami Herald.

Police were investigating the motive and were still identifying those who were killed.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for more updates.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.