UPDATE: Suspect Fatally Shot at Hostage Standoff Identified

Edited at 6:49 p.m. Dec. 9, 2012:

A suspect who allegedly took two hostages at a fast-food restaurant this weekend and was subsequently fatally wounded by police snipers was identiied Sunday evening.

The gunman was identified in published reports as Xang Khang, 26, of Sacramento.

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Sacramento police sharpshooters fatally shot a robbery suspect who allegedy took two employees hostage at a Jack in the Box restaurant, it was reported Sunday.

Hundreds of Saturday afternoon customers watched the three-hour standoff, according to the The Sacramento Bee.

Two women, both restaurant employees, escaped unharmed from the eatery in the 8300 block of Folsom Boulevard in the College Greens Shopping Center, the newspaper's online website reported.

Paramedics took the wounded man to a local hospital, where he later died.

"We tried for several hours for this to end peacefully," Sacramento police information Officer Doug Morse told the Bee.

"It's very unfortunate it had to end this way.

"It was a very tense, really frightening situation for everyone involved."

Dan Escamilla had just sat down to lunch at El Festival taqueria behind the Jack in the Box about 12:30 p.m.

A bail agent from Orange County, he was visiting the area in search of a violent felony fugitive, the Bee reported.

An employee from Jack in the Box rushed into the taqueria and said the nearby restaurant was being robbed, Escamilla said.

"The (woman) came into the restaurant yelling, 'There's a guy with a gun and he's inside the Jack in the Box right now,'" Escamilla said. "So I ran and got my gun and my (protective) vest (from the car) to see if there was something that I could do to help."

Just as he reached the back entrance to the Jack in the Box, a second woman – another restaurant employee – ran out and told him the robber had put a gun into her mouth, the Bee reported.

"I told her to get out of there quick," Escamilla said.

The bail agent told the newspaper that he watched the back door until police arrived about two minutes later.

Meanwhile, the gunman – described by police as a young Asian male – barricaded himself inside.

Dozens of Sacramento police officers and Sacramento County sheriff's deputies gathered at the scene, the area quickly cordoned off with hundreds of yards of yellow tape.

Folsom Boulevard was closed to all traffic between Howe Avenue and Florin-Perkins Road, the newspaper's website reported.

Police SWAT officers and hostage negotiators responded, setting up their command post behind the Chase Bank branch; a helicopter circled overhead, according to the Bee.

As the hostage situation unfolded, area businesses stayed open and shoppers went to and from their vehicles, even as onlookers gathered along the tape barriers to take cellphone snapshots of the officers at work, the newspaper reported.

"We thought there was an accident or something," said Courtney Fea, who was grocery shopping with her father, Thomas. "Then we saw all the police tape."

About 2:45 p.m., one of the women was released and escorted away by officers. The crowd along the yellow tape barricades grew bigger as people watched officers unload a SWAT robot to survey the front of the restaurant.

At 3:43 p.m., police fired shots and detonated three concussion grenades. The booming noise caused car alarms to go off in the parking lot, the newspaper reported.

Immediately after the volleys, the remaining hostage ran from the restaurant and was met by several officers who rushed her to safety behind the building, according to the Bee.

"The safety of those inside the restaurant – as well as the community surrounding the restaurant – was just paramount, and officers were forced to take action to end this safely," Morse told the newspaper's reporter.