(CARY) -- Wake County authorities and the State Bureau of Investigation are still investigating what led a 19-year-old man to hold seven people hostage at a Wachovia bank in Cary on Thursday.  Devon Mitchell was killed by officers when he tried to leave the bank while holding a gun to the head of a woman.

Cary Police Chief Pat Bazemore said the standoff began after an attempted bank robbery. She said killing the suspect is not how authorities had hoped the standoff would end. "Obviously it is always our goal for everyone to go home safe, so I stand behind our officers and what they did.  Our negotiators did a great job of getting the folks out of the bank safely.  It is a very sad situation that we did end up shooting the suspect," said Bazemore.

One of the seven hostages was hiding in the bank.  This person, who has not been identified, stayed in communication with police about what was going on in the bank.