Gunman Moat dies after shooting himself - report

3:55 PM Saturday Jul 10, 2010

Fugitive British gunman Raoul Moat has died after apparently shooting himself following a six-hour stand-off with armed officers.

A spokesman said 37-year-old Moat shot himself and was later pronounced dead in hospital in Newcastle.

"Police discovered a man fitting the description of Raoul Thomas Moat at around 7pm near the riverbank in the vicinity of Rothbury," Northumbria Police Chief Superintendent Mark Dennett told AFP.

"When he was discovered he was armed. Expert negotiators were brought in to speak to him and spoke to him extensively for several hours.

"We can confirm a shot or shots have been fired and it's believed the suspect has a gunshot wound."

Sky News television and the domestic Press Association news agency also cited sources saying Moat was dead.

After days of tracking, police responded to reports that Moat was on a riverbank at about 7.20pm on Friday. They warned residents to stay indoors for their own safety.

At one point police gave Moat food and water as negotiators attempted to persuade him to give up.

But as police moved in, the fugitive - wanted for wounding his ex-girlfriend, killing her new boyfriend and shooting a police officer - turned a shotgun on himself.

Eyewitness Peter Abiston told the BBC: "There's been a shooting. Paramedics have gone into him.

"From what I can see he shot himself. He lay down and shot himself."

Earlier, police said that "no shots were fired by police officers" and no officers were hurt in the incident.

People in the town had been told to "go home and lock the door" by armed officers.

Eyewitness Chris Robertson told BBC News earlier he had seen a man resembling Moat with a gun pointed at his neck.

Speaking on a mobile phone from inside the exclusion zone, he told BBC News: "There was a man down by the river with what appeared to be a sawn-off shotgun pointing at his own neck."

From: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10657872