Accused killer Joseph C. Palczynski's two-week crime spree came to a violent end late last night when Baltimore County police SWAT team members shot him to death in the living room of a Dundalk rowhouse where he had been holding three hostages since Friday.

Two of the three hostages escaped out a window while Palczynski slept on a family room couch shortly before the SWAT team broke into the house. The third, a 12-year-old boy who was sleeping on the kitchen floor, was later led to safety by police.

The escapes "prompted us to go in or that boy was dead," said Police Chief Terrence B. Sheridan.

No officers were injured.

The events ended a 97-hour standoff that began when Palczynski, 31, shot his way into the apartment. He had been on the run since March 7, when, police say, he abducted his former girlfriend, Tracy Whitehead, and fatally shot the couple she was living with and a neighbor who tried to come to her aid.

A day later, he allegedly shot and killed a passing motorist in an attempted carjacking.

Lynn Whitehead, Tracy Whitehead's mother, jumped out the front window of the first-floor apartment in the 7500 block of Lange St. about 10:20 p.m. and her boyfriend, Andy McCord, followed about 20 minutes later. SWAT team members broke through a window and shot Palczynski, who had a gun on his lap under a blanket on the couch. They then escorted 12-year-old Bradley McCord -- Andy and Lynn's son -- out of the apartment.

"I am here to report that we had a successful operation," Sheridan told a crowd of reporters at the command center in Dundalk as residents and police officers hugged each other. "Three hostages are safe because we had a successful operation."

Responding to angry criticism that police were slow to resolve the situation, Sheridan said, "Patience is what counted."

"Notwithstanding some of the criticism and the impatience, we had to stay focused," said County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger. "In my opinion, [Palczynski] felt he was the star of the show. He loved this. This was his show, this was his game.

"We're blessed. We're happy. And frankly, we're a little lucky."

Thankful family members praised God yesterday for answering their prayers over the ordeal.

"I had a feeling Lynn would do something," said Jean Jones, 47, who called her cousin "a fighter. She just probably had enough of it."

Jones rushed to the scene when she heard of the escape and ran to embrace her sister, Debbie Hands, 48, of Armistead Gardens, who said, "I thought he would kill them."

Lynn Whitehead's son, Bobby, 14, said: "We drove here as fast as we could. We are just so relieved."

Earlier yesterday, police had speculated about the condition of one of the hostages believed injured by a gunshot in the apartment Monday.

Last night, police said Palczynski said one of the hostages had been shot, but that proved to be false.

Neighbors had said that Palczynski had placed the younger McCord in front of an apartment window on more than one occasion. A source close to the investigation confirmed that people in the house had been used as shields.

Police also had tightened security and made two arrests in a restricted four-block zone circling the Lange Street rowhouse where the hostages were being held.

As the standoff dragged on, police negotiators continued talking with the suspected killer in "on-again, off-again conversations."

On the two previous days, Palczynski had fired out an apartment window at least nine times, once flattening tires on a police armored personnel carrier.

But it was one gunshot inside the house about 3 p.m. Monday that worried police. The shot was fired after negotiations between police and Palczynski resumed after six hours of silence.

A Whitehead cousin, Judy Gronke, told the Associated Press that Andy McCord's leg was grazed by the bullet. However, police spokeswoman Vickie Warehime said this morning no hostage was wounded in any way.

Yesterday, with a heavy rain falling, there were few bystanders at the scene. Police had become increasingly concerned about people congregating in the area, including those seeking to take advantage of free media attention. Some had tried to pose as reporters.

Police arrested Charles Ryan of the 7300 block of Berkshire Road and charged him with disorderly conduct and trespassing at the Berkshire Elementary School shelter about 1:30 a.m. yesterday. Police said Ryan, who was released on his own recognizance, was arguing and trying to cross into the restricted zone near Lange Street.

A second man, who police said identified himself as a free-lance photographer, was arrested about 1:30 a.m. at Dalton and Berkshire avenues when officers found him in the so-called "kill zone." The man was told to leave, police said, but a short time later was found in an alley behind the rowhouse where the hostages were being held with a camera and a picture of Palczynski in his wallet. Police said the suspect was to be charged last night. He was not identified.

A third person was taken into custody about 4:30 a.m. yesterday. The man, who described himself as a former producer for a local television station, was dressed in shorts and camouflage on a 30-degree night and his face was smeared with syrup, police said.

The man was taken into custody for psychiatric evaluation. Police said the man voiced "a plan to end this."

At one point before the escape, as reporters pressed him on reports that the hostage-taking had taken an inordinate toll on the neighborhood, police spokesman Bill Toohey answered heatedly: "Let us try to remember something. We believe this man has killed four people and kidnapped two. He's unpredictable. He's violent. He has three captives in there now.

"Let's not lose track of what started this. This is a man we think has murdered four people then traveled out of state and come back. Let's remember what happened the night of March 7, when he went into an apartment, dragged one woman out of there and shot two people and then a third and a fourth.

"Let's not lose sight of that."

Palczynski has been on the run since March 7, when police say he abducted Tracy Whitehead. She was staying with 50-year-old Gloria Jean Shenk and her husband, George Shenk, 49, after her most recent breakup with Palczynski.

Police said that as Palczynski dragged Whitehead from the Town & Country Bowleys Quarters Apartments, he fatally shot the Shenks and David M. Meyers, a neighbor who tried to help. Whitehead escaped the next night.

Police also allege that Palczynski shot and killed Jennifer McDonel, 37, a passing motorist, during an attempted carjacking the next night.

Palczynski then traveled, probably by train, to Virginia and stole two guns and cash from a house, said police, who also believe he forced a man at gunpoint to drive him back to eastern Baltimore County.

After eluding a massive manhunt in the woods and marshes of eastern Baltimore County, Palczynski reappeared Friday night, police said, when he shot at the Lange Street rowhouse and took the three hostages.

Yesterday, police faced criticism from angry residents who could not get pets out of homes in the restricted zone.

Police responded by removing three dogs from homes in the morning, Toohey said, but "at certain locations, there are people we cannot get out, and at certain locations, there are pets we cannot get out."

Toohey verified that police shot and killed a dog in a home where police had set up surveillance early in the standoff. He said the dog was shot because "it was in a threatening position."

Sun staff writers Jay Apperson, Tim Craig and Michael James contributed to this article.