A seven-hour hostage standoff ended just before noon Wednesday when DeKalb County police shot and critically wounded a man who had been holding his girlfriend against her will.

DeKalb police spokesman Marcus Hodge said the suspect's girlfriend ran from the house on Cherry Lane south of Decatur about 11:45 a.m. The man, who was still armed, ran outside after her and was told by officers to drop his gun. When he refused, he was shot, Hodge said.

The wounded suspect was taken to a local hospital in critical condition, Hodge said.

Police were called to the house, in a neighborhood off Second Avenue and Tilson Road, around 4:30 a.m. after police responded to a 911 call about a woman being forced into the home at gunpoint.

"When officers arrived, he said he was not coming out," Hodge said, adding that officers heard a female screaming from inside the house.

The suspect initially refused to talk to a SWAT negotiator, but began communicating around 9 a.m., Hodge said. He said the man had threatened to hurt his girlfriend "if he sees any police or media."

The identities of the suspect and victim have not been released, but Hodge said both are in their 30s.

He said that while police have not been called to that address in the past, the suspect "had had a history of domestic issues with another female."

	John Spink/AJC
An unidentified man points as a SWAT officer looks down East Drive near at Second Avenue on Wednesday, a scene where a man was believed to be holding a girlfriend hostage.