Gunman found dead in California after hotel standoff

Police say a suspect who barricaded himself into a San Rafael, Calif., hotel room and fired a gun onto a highway has been found dead in the room. The man, identified as Peter James Thomas, 38, was found dead Thursday afternoon after a 24-hour standoff with police in the hotel, the Marin Independent Journal reported. Police discovered Thomas was dead by drilling a hole into a wall of the room and installing a camera. Police broke into the room where they found Thomas with what they said they believed was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The standoff began Wednesday morning when police learned that Thomas, suspected of cutting employees of a United Markets with a knife Sunday, was staying at the hotel. Thomas barricaded himself in his room and fired a gunshot onto Interstate 580. Police shut down the highway briefly and evacuated the hotel. Thomas said he had his girlfriend in the room with him. Police subsequently discovered the woman was in a different room on another floor. Thomas was wanted on a $70,000 warrant for failing to appear in Mill Valley, Calif., court in a drugs and weapons case.