A Crime Scene Unit officer boxes up the sawed-off shotgun being wielded by a person who was shot by Calgary police in the early hours of Sunday, May 25, 2009. The person later died. (Sun Media/Mike Drew)

CALGARY -- Calgary police shot and killed a man after an intense, two-hour standoff in Southwood early yesterday morning.

Police were called to the 500 block of Sabrina Rd. S.W. just before 1 a.m. following reports a man armed with a sawed-off shotgun was holding his 19-year-old neighbour hostage.

Neighbours identified the dead man as Don, a mechanic believed to be about 50-years-old.

Chief Rick Hanson said the officer who fired the fatal shots is a member of the TAC team with roughly 20 years of experience.

"He's an experienced, experienced member with an outstanding reputation," said Hanson.

"I've talked to him and he's doing as well as can be expected."

Bob Penny, 57, said he heard a noise outside around 1 a.m. and looked out his front window where he saw heavily armed police officers.

"People loading shotguns in your front yard, even in this neighbourhood, it doesn't happen every Saturday night," he said.

"All of a sudden all these SWAT-looking guys started showing up in vans and Suburbans.

"Every time I looked through my binoculars someone was taking a shotgun out of a vehicle."

Nearly two hours later, the area flooded with police, Penny heard three shots.

"It was boom, boom, boom, real quick," he said.

"When you hear shotguns going off in your neighbourhood, it's a little scary."

Neighbour, Elizabeth Mok, 15, heard Don arguing with another neighbour over guitar parts around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.

"At first I heard him yell, 'I'll cripple you,' " she said.

"Then they were kind of shouting and he was going on, yelling, 'You stole my whammy bar.' "

Sources told the Sun Don allegedly went to the home where he was shot, telling a resident he wanted to kill a man with whom he argued earlier.

This was the third fatal police shooting in Calgary in the last nine months and the second this year.

In March, police shot and killed 33-year-old Travis Oakes in a southwest car wash after he rammed a stolen car through a bay door and into a police vehicle.

In September 2008, police shot and killed a knife-wielding Walid Mahamed Maragan, 35, in a southwest apartment after he murdered his wife.

"Once again it speaks to the number of weapons on the street and the willingness of people to carry them and use them," said Hanson.

"Even just since January, we've taken over 55 handguns off the street, assault weapons, AK-47s and this individual had a sawed-off shotgun."

DAVE.DORMER@SUNMEDIA.CA