Suspect in Paris hostage-taking placed in psychiatric unit

PARIS – A French judicial official says the suspect in a hostage-taking in central Paris has been transferred overnight to a psychiatric unit.

The official spoke anonymously Wednesday because he was not allowed to discuss an ongoing investigation.

A four-hour hostage standoff ended Tuesday after police arrested the armed suspect, a 26-year-old man born in Morocco. Two hostages were freed.

There was no indication of an extremist motive, police said.

An investigation has been open for kidnapping and sequestration, attempted homicide and violence with a weapon.

During the negotiations, the hostage-taker reportedly evoked a strange mix of events, including the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, the kidnapping and death last year of a young girl in an Alpine town, and asking to speak to the Iranian ambassador.