Cops: Man barricades, then kills himself

An armed man shot and killed himself at a Brewerytown apartment early Saturday while talking to police as he walked on and off of his balcony, authorities said.

About 1:40 a.m., police received a 911 call of a person screaming. Officers who responded to the scene - an apartment on Thompson Street near 31st - were met by a woman who said that her 24-year-old brother was inside his apartment threatening to kill himself, police said.

Police set up a staging area at 31st and Thompson for a "barricaded person," authorities said.

As officers surrounded the front and back of the apartment, they observed the man walking on and off of the balcony of his apartment, police said. The man was asking to speak with his mother, while he was pointing the gun to his head, police said.

While the man was speaking to police, he shot himself in the head, authorities said.

The man was taken by medics to Hahnemann University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:28 a.m.

Police said they recovered the gun. The man's identity was not released.

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