LAPD shoots armed man who barricaded himself in building with hostage

A California man went on a sadistic shooting spree Friday, terrorizing several blocks of downtown Los Angeles and taking a hostage before he was killed by cops in a dramatic caught-on-camera raid, police said.

Videos posted to Twitter showed police swarming a ten-story building of loft apartments in downtown LA where the gunman had barricaded himself with a hostage.

The horrifying sequence of events leading to the showdown began at around 4:10 p.m., when police said the unhinged suspect tried to shoot a man in the face at point-blank range on a sidewalk, but “fortunately the gun did not fire.”

He then walked into a business and fired his weapon at a family of three, striking a 14-year-old boy in the head. The teen was being treated at a hospital and was expected to survive, according to the LAPD.

After the shooting, the armed man continued on his rampage, attempting to carjack a woman and tussling with a cyclist nearby, cops said.

Officers chased him into the residential building on 6th Street and South Main Street, and discovered surveillance footage from inside the apartment complex showing the suspect ” in a hallway armed with a gun forcing a female to come with him.”

“At that point, we knew we had a hostage situation,” the LAPD said on Twitter.

A man wearing white could be seen through large windows pointing a gun to the woman’s head as she kneeled down, before he dragged her to a different area of the unit, footage captured from a building across the street showed.

Shortly after, several loud apparent flash-bangs could be heard as the man ran to a different room.

As the blasts continue, the man is seen grabbing the woman again and moving out of sight, as SWAT team officers swarmed the area and gunshots rang out.

An officer shot the suspect dead, the LAPD said. The hostage was taken to the hospital. The tactical team was unharmed.

The incident happened eight blocks away from a Wednesday night hostage situation, where police shot a woman who emerged from a tent holding a person at gunpoint, KTLA reported.

Both shootouts were near the city’s Skid Row district, which is known for high crime rate and prolific homeless encampments.

City officials have attempted to attract a new class of residents to the area in recent years, according to reports.

“Active crime scene right outside my building for the 3rd time in 3 months. DTLA is a joke I’ll never live here again. What good is a luxury apartment in hell?,” one person tweeted.