KOTA KINABALU: A male suspect who earlier took a two-year-old girl hostage was shot dead by the police at a house on the fourth floor of a flat in Taman Telipok Ria, Tuaran at 5.35pm.
It is learned that the police were forced to take action after efforts to persuade the suspect to let the child go, failed.
Several shots were fired and the situation at the scene became chaotic and tensed.
The suspect was then pronounced dead.
Soon after, the child was brought out of the house where the suspect was holding her hostage and into an ambulance where she was then taken to a hospital.
Her condition is not yet known.
The situation unfolded at about noon when the unidentified man, believed to be in his 30s, abducted the child.
The man then took the child and entered a unit on the fourth floor, close to where the girl's parents are staying.
Police cordoned off the area to the unit and attempted to coax the suspect to let the toddler go.
The suspect was believed to have been hiding in a toilet in the unit.
Also at the scene were officers from the Fire and Rescue Department.
Several residents also took to placing mattresses on the ground floor outside the unit in facing any possibilities.