Anger over a divorce settlement may have driven a 63-year-old Baptist deacon to shoot five people in an Alexandria, La., law office, killing two, then exchange gunfire with police during a standoff, authorities said Friday.

A special tactical unit used explosives to enter the building shortly after midnight and shot John Ashley to death after he opened fire, police spokesman Sgt. Clifford Gatlin said. Autopsies were planned on the three victims, he said.