[chris]

A hostage was freed unharmed and Brent Works, 37, was pronounced dead early Tuesday after a roughly 12-hour standoff at a woodworking business in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, according to Jeffersontown police.

Works walked into Lyndon Millwork in the Bluegrass Industrial Park around 3:30 p.m. Monday, waving a handgun and firing several shots, police said. No one was struck by gunfire. He took one man hostage and barricaded himself inside one of three buildings on the property.

Investigators said Works had gone to the business looking for a former girlfriend who worked there. Jeffersontown police and Louisville Metro Police Department SWAT and hostage negotiation teams responded, locking down neighboring businesses and evacuating nearby workers as negotiators opened phone contact with Works.

Negotiators kept Works talking through the night. Around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, about 12 hours into the standoff, Works abruptly cut off communication, and SWAT officers stationed outside heard a single gunshot.

The hostage walked out of the building unharmed and was evaluated at the scene, police said. Officers found Works with a gunshot wound; he was taken to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:30 a.m. The Jefferson County coroner's office ruled the wound self-inflicted. No officers fired their weapons during the standoff, police said.

Police said Works had been wanted on a warrant that included charges of violating an emergency protective order, kidnapping, domestic violence, rape, sodomy, wanton endangerment, terroristic threatening and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon. Emergency dispatchers received multiple 911 calls from people in the area during the standoff, records show.