Officers were this morning surrounding a house in Seattle where it was thought that Maurice Clemmons, a 37-year-old convicted armed robber, was holed-up. Negotiators used loudspeakers and explosions to try to flush him out and at one point gunshots rang out through the neighbourhood.

But Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sherriff’s office, said it was far from clear that Mr Clemmons was still alive. "We have determined that in fact he has been shot," he said. "He may be deceased from his gunshot wound."