A man upset over thousands of dollars in fees owed to a condominium association brandished a gun and took two association employees hostage before he was killed by a SWAT team, authorities said. Deputies "were screaming at him to put the gun down, but he didn't seem to be paying attention," said Ross Torman, 30, a resident who watched the standoff from his nearby balcony. "He just put that gun right to his head and that's when they began to shoot." Dellisanti was pronounced dead at a hospital. Dellisanti lived with his mother, Edith Jemas, 80, who owned the condo in Pompano Beach about 40 miles north of Miami. Neighbors said Dellisanti did not appear to have a job and said his mother was ill and cared for by nurses. Records show she owed more than $4,000 in missed maintenance fees, special assessments and late fees. Neighbors said the assessments were added after Hurricane Wilma hit in 2005. The association put a lien against Jemas' home on April 11.

Foreclosure filings in the first three months of 2008 rose more than 112% over last year, according to a study released Tuesday. Real estate information firm RealtyTrac reported that nearly 650,000 foreclosure filings - which include notices of default, auction sales and bank repossessions - were issued in the first quarter. That represents 1 of every 194 households and marks a 23% increase from the last quarter of 2007. So far this year 156,463 families have lost their homes to repossessions. "Foreclosure activity hasn't slowed down yet," said Rick Sharga, spokesman for RealtyTrac. "But I was a little surprised that foreclosure filings more than doubled since last year."The worst hit states are still clustered in the Southwest; Nevada, California and Arizona lead the nation in foreclosure filings. And some local governments have stepped up their programs to help borrowers, according to RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio. "For example, in late March Philadelphia issued a temporary moratorium on all foreclosure auctions for April," he said. "The city has since adopted a program that will delay foreclosure proceedings on owner-occupied properties until the owners have met face-to-face with lenders to attempt to create a loan workout plan that would prevent foreclosure.

US house prices continue to plunge by a record amount, a new report showed on Tuesday, adding to pressure on consumers and threatening to prolong a domestic economic slowdown. House prices have declined in all 20 cities for six consecutive months but eight of these areas reported their largest monthly decline in the latest survey, indicating the housing slump may be getting worse. "There is a sense that the consumer is besieged by a perfect storm of falling home values, fuel and food price increases, reduced access to credit, and falling employment and income," Alan Ruskin, chief international strategist at RBS Greenwich Capital, said. Interest rates have already fallen by 300bp since September, limiting some of the pain for borrowers with adjustable rate mortgages, but prospective home buyers have remained on the sidelines as prices have spiralled lower amid a glut of unsold properties.Robert Shiller, economist and co-founder of the housing index, warned last week that the severity of the decline in residential property values threatened to exceed that of the Great Depression, when house prices dropped 30 per cent. Since its peak in June 2006, the 20-city house price index has already fallen 14.8 per cent. The brutal blow to property values has left almost 9m US homeowners in negative equity, meaning they owe the lender more than their house is worth, according to an estimate by Moody's Economy.com. Economists fear further price deterioration could tempt homeowners with little or no equity in their property to stop paying the mortgage and walk away, triggering another wave of foreclosures and further downward pressure on prices.

Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem on Saturday after the Rev. Al Sharpton promised to "close this city down" to protest the acquittals of three police detectives in the 50-shot barrage that killed a groom on his wedding day and wounded two friends. Protesters react to the verdict in the Sean Bell case outside of the Queens County Criminal Courts Building on Friday. Rev. Sharpton urged people to return for a meeting this coming week "to plan the day that we will close this city down" with the kind of "massive civil disobedience" once led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Rev. Sharpton didn't say exactly how they would protest the acquittals of the officers who fired the 50 shots. He said Bell's supporters could demonstrate all over the city, from Wall Street to the home of Justice Arthur Cooperman, who on Friday acquitted the three detectives after a nonjury trial.