A gunman was killed by police after he shot dead three people he had held hostage for hours in a townhouse in Aurora, Colorado Saturday morning.

The police shot the gunman. No other details were available. Twelve people were killed by John Holmes in a cinema theatre in this same town in July, during the opening night of the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.

The latest incident incident comes close on the heels of the shooting of 20 children and six adults in an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut in December.