San Diego

A San Diego Police Department SWAT team member on Friday shot and killed a man who had barricaded himself inside an Encanto home and threatened two women with a carving knife.

The three-hour stand-off began shortly after 10:30 a.m. when a KGTV (Channel 10) reporter received a telephone call from a highly agitated man who said he was going to kill his roommate and then himself. The reporter got the man’s address and notified police, police spokesman Bill Robinson said.

Officers arrived at the home in the 1900 block of Klauber Avenue and the man, identified as Tennyson Star Beard, 39, said he would shoot any officers who tried to enter the home, Robinson said.

Beard held his roommate, Lynn Stowers, and her 76-year-old mother, Alice, hostage inside the home. Police sealed off the area and called in hostage negotiators and the SWAT team. As SWAT officers surrounded the home, police tried to reason with Beard, Robinson said.

About 1:30 p.m., Beard demanded cigarettes and his irrational behavior intensified, Robinson said.

“He announced that in one minute he was going to kill the hostages,” Robinson said. “Then he began to count down in a loud voice and the women began to scream hysterically.”

At that point the threat to the women’s lives was seen as imminent and the go-ahead was given to shoot Beard, Robinson said.

SWAT sniper Ken Hubbs fired one shot, which struck Beard in the head, killing him instantly, Robinson said.

Lynn Stowers suffered a minor stab wound near her hip. Her mother was not injured.