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DENVER - Police say a father and son are both dead after an Amber Alert and standoff situation.
Denver Police say they believe 22-year-old Elias Johnny Santisteven shot and killed his 5-year-old son Deion Santisteven, before shooting and killing himself.
Police say they entered the apartment after hearing shots fired and found the two dead in the bathroom.
Police say they also rescued another hostage in the apartment who was in the living room. Police say that man seems to be okay.
"Needless to say the family has taken this very hard, the officers have taken this very hard too," said Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman.
Whitman says the negotiator heard two shots, one right after the other, and 9NEWS crews heard a loud explosion in the area when officers went in.
Police say there were four hostages inside with Elias Santisteven when the standoff began, including two children and a pregnant woman. During the four hours of negotiations with Santisteven, police managed to get two of the hostages released.
Whitman says Santisteven would hang up with the negotiator, but when they would call back he would still pick up. "He was making threats and we were negotiating through the threats," said Whitman.
Police say no shots were fired by officers at the end of the standoff.
Chief Whitman says police were ready to enter the apartment for hours but were trying to end the standoff through the negotiator.
The standoff began Monday just before 9 a.m. when Denver Police say shots were fired at officers at an apartment building at 9725 E. Harvard Avenue, off of South Dayton Way Monday morning and officers returned fire.
No one was hit in that exchange of gunfire.
SWAT then arrived on scene and South Dayton Way was closed at East Iliff Avenue.
Police were searching for Elias Santisteven in connection with an Amber Alert for Deion Santisteven that was issued Sunday afternoon.
The Amber Alert was cancelled Monday around noon.
The Amber Alert was issued after Elias Santisteven was involved in a physical altercation with his wife, Maria Santisteven, and took the couple's two children to his mother's residence.
He later dropped off a 2-year-old at a friend's home, but police say he still had Deion Santisteven with him.
Early Monday morning, police raided a home in the area of 16th and Stuart with SWAT support. They went there around 1 a.m. after receiving information the suspect and child may have been inside. After completing a sweep of the house, neither was found.
Elias Santisteven had a long criminal history including a guilty plea for felony robbery in 2003. He was also charged with a weapon offense in June 2004.
