AP The Orange County, Fla., SWAT team rushes hostages Althea Mills, 16, in white, and Daniquea Akoon, 9 months, held by Mills, out of the house

An autopsy confirmed that the bullet that killed 40-year-old Andrea Hall came from the sniper's weapon and not that of the murder suspect who had holed up in the suburban home.

Orlando Police Chief Jerry Demings said the sniper fired the fatal shot on Sunday as he tried to shoot Jamie Dean Petron, the hostage-taker.

Petron later committed suicide with a gunshot to the chest.

The Orlando police officer who fired the shot, Christopher J. Savard, 34, an 8-year veteran who had been a certified sniper for more than two years, was placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation. Demings said the department expressed its condolences to Hall's family.

Several of Hall's relatives spent the day at the medical examiner's office and took the news hard, said Carl Hall, the victim's ex-husband.

"They are a very close family, very religious," he said. "She was a good woman."

Petron told police negotiators on Sunday afternoon that they shot someone when the sniper fired into the home, but authorities said he refused to let them into the house or give up the injured hostage.

While negotiating the release of two children held hostage Monday, Petron told authorities Monday that the standoff would be over in 20 minutes.

But after 51 hours of waiting outside the suburban home, they had no reason to believe him. One hostage was already dead and two others, a 16-year-old and a 9-month-old, were still inside with Petron.

After entering the house, a SWAT team discovered Hall's body in the kitchen, said Sheriff's Capt. Michael Foreman. The SWAT team secured the house, with Petron barricading himself in the master bedroom for three hours, Foreman said.

Petron shot himself and was found dead at 3:15 p.m., police said. When Petron killed himself, hostage Althea Mills, 16, was hiding in the bedroom's walk-in closet, holding the 9-month-old baby and talking with police on the phone, Foreman said.

Two other hostages had been released Sunday. Police said they were shaken but unharmed.

The standoff began Saturday, when authorities said Petron burst into the home in the Meadow Woods subdivision south of Orlando and took the family hostage. Apparently, he did not know them.

The home belongs to Thelma Mills. Hall, her sister, was visiting the family.

Petron allegedly fled to the house after shooting an Orange County sheriff's deputy in the leg as the deputy tried to arrest him outside a nearby grocery store. Petron is suspected in the Friday shooting death of a Pompano Beach convenience store clerk, authorities said.

After Petron stopped answering the phone early Monday, police used a robot with a built-in speaker and microphone to try to communicate with him. But Petron became agitated and opened fire on the robot, but missed it.

Petron had said he would release the other hostages after the tape of a statement he made was aired, police said, but he held them through Monday morning. On the tape, Petron said he didn't mean to hurt anyone. "All I can say is deep in my heart I am really apologetic. Don't think I'm the devil. I'm not the devil," he said.

Records show Petron was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1986 for attempted first-degree murder, forgery and battery on a law enforcement officer. He was released from prison in late 1995.

"My heart is breaking but a part of me is glad it's over," Evelyn Betheil, Petron's maternal grandmother, told The Miami Herald. "He did some really bad things and had to die."

— The Associated Press contributed to this report