A Lansford, Pa., police officer who was taken hostage at gunpoint Friday night by another borough officer tried but failed to keep his abductor from committing suicide, the Carbon County sheriff told The Morning Call newspaper Saturday.

Sheriff Dwight Nothstein identified Officer Chris Ondrus as the hostage and said he was not injured but "very shook up." He said he spoke with Ondrus after the other officer, identified by authorities as David Midas, shot himself shortly before 8 p.m. on a busy Jim Thorpe street.

Authorities said Midas drove the hostage to Broadway in the borough's downtown, where there was a struggle between the men before Midas shot himself on the street.