GONZALES, La. -- A man armed with a rifle apparently committed suicide Thursday, ending a police standoff that lasted hours after he shot and killed his estranged wife.

Bobby Dickerson, 49, fatally wounded his 32-year-old wife, Consuelo, about noon outside his home in Gonzales before he went inside and blocked atempts to arrest him.

Police Chief Bill Landry said that when negotiations broke down with Dickerson around 6:30 p.m., police and Ascension Parish sheriff's deputies fired nonflammable tear gas rounds into Dickerson's home. When no activity was detected inside, authorities entered the house and found Dickerson dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, Landry said.

Consuelo Dickerson was shot to death as she went to the residence to collect some belongings, said June Mackie, of Sorrento, who identified herself as Dickerson's aunt.

The victim and her husband had been separated for about three months.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)