Federal judge shoots and kills himself after holding a 13-year-old girl and her parents hostage

A federal judge has shot and killed himself after holding terrified family members at gunpoint in a 10-hour standoff with police SWAT teams.

Timothy Maher, 51, ended the standoff with a self-inflicted gunshot wound around 8.20am on Friday morning in a home outside of Miami, allowing the 13-year-old girl and her parents to escape uninjured.

Maher, a federal administrative judge with 10 years on the bench, had spiraled out of control in recent days, drawing an arrest and multiple police contacts over a dispute with the estranged mother of his four-year-old son.

Police said Maher was related to the hostages, but it is unclear how. Neighbors said that the homeowner may have been the judge's brother-in-law.

The standoff began late Thursday with a plaintive text message to 911 reading simply: please help.

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