A police sniper shot and killed a man accused of shooting a Manchester police officer.
Eddie Reyes shot Officer William Beeler in the shoulder during some type of confrontation on Courtland Street around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday and was holding his wife and two kids hostage, police said. Police said he was "emotionally disturbed," had three guns and was firing guns for hours.
As state police searched the house on Friday morning, they told reporters they had counted 75 rounds of ammunition and were still counting more.
Tamara Tirone is friends with the wife, Maryella Reyes, and called Maryella after seeing police and armored trucks swarming the neighborhood.
Maryella and her two sons took cover in a bathroom.
"I asked her what was going on and she said, 'He's just going crazy.' She was on the bathroom floor with the kids and he was downstairs," Tirone said.
Neighbors heard several gunshots and were evacuated from their homes.
Police stormed Jennifer Jamaitis' home and told her to get her young daughter and get out, she said.
"Police officers banged on my door. They helped me get her from upstairs. They helped me get food and they covered the windows," she said.
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After more than an hour, Reyes released his wife and two sons.
"When she got out, she handed me the dog and they left. She looked sad, but they're safe," Tirone said.
But, then police saw him waving a gun around and a sniper shot and killed him, Lt. Christopher Davis of the Manchester Police Department, said.
Reyes' family members were not injured.
Officer Beeler, who is also the head football coach at Fermi High School in Enfield, was released from Hartford Hospital on Thursday night.
State Police as well as police officers from South Windsor, Hartford, East Hartford, Glastonbury and Vernon assisted during the standoff.
