Gunman shot dead after taking two women hostage in New Jersey

An armed man was dead after being shot by police in a rescue operation for two women he took hostage at a UPS processing facility in U.S. eastern state of New Jersey on Monday, the authorities said.

The suspect, identified by authorities as Williams Owens, 39, was shot during a rescue operation in Logan Township, the state's Attorney General's Office said in a press release.

"Multiple members of the law enforcement fired at the man, who was armed with a handgun," the release said.

Both hostages worked for UPS and neither suffered injuries, Gloucester County Prosecutor Charles Fiore told a press conference.

The suspect entered the UPS facility around 9:00 a.m. and fired shots though no one was struck, said Fiore.

UPS said in a statement that the building, located in an industrial district of the south New Jersey township of 6,000, is a bulk mail processing facility.