TORONTO, Aug 25 (AFP) - A police marksman shot and killed an armed man who took a woman hostage and left another with gunshot wounds, after a dramatic rush-hour standoff Wednesday in the heart of downtown Toronto.
A single shot echoed off the glass walled skyscrapers of the city's swank financial district, ending an early morning showdown which erupted when shots were fired less than an hour earlier in a foodcourt.
A woman hostage grabbed off a sidewalk outside the city's central Union Station as the gunman fled from a pursuing police officer escaped unharmed and was taken away in an ambulance.
Another woman was in hospital with gunshot injuries after an incident at the foodcourt, Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino told reporters.
"The outcome of course is tragic but it appears from my point of view to be very necessary," Fantino said at an impromptu press conference.
Crack police marksmen, who fanned around the scene of the hostage taking hiding behind the open doors of police cars had no choice but to kill the man, even though a hostage-negotiator was on the scene, Fantino said.
"The suspect was armed with a firearm, it was pointed several times at the police as well as the woman that had been taken hostage.
"They eliminated a very serious threat to citizens and themselves, it is a regrettable and unfortunate outcome ... at the end of the day these officers did their job."