Man calls suicide helpline, Swat team shoots him dead

A man called a suicide helpline but got the wrong sort of help - the counsellors called in a police Special Weapons and Tactics team, which killed him.

Jose Calzada, 35, phoned a suicide hotline at around 4am, saying he wanted to kill himself according to Good4Utah.com.

The dispatch centre sent police officers to his home to talk to him but negotiations went wrong several hours later when Swat officers decided to open fire.

"About 11.15 this morning that negotiation failed," Detective Matthew Gwynn, of the Roy City police department, in Utah, in the US, said. "There was an officer involved [in the] shooting and that subject is deceased."

The man was described as quiet and friendly.

He was said to have been divorced and to be living with his girlfriend and her children. He had attempted suicide before.