American killed at Red Sea resort city of Eilat, Israel after killing hotel employee, police say

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- An American man opened fire in a hotel in the Red Sea resort city of Eilat Friday, an Israeli police spokesman said, killing a hotel employee.

The American was then shot dead when a police anti-terror unit responded to the alert at the hotel, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

An initial investigation suggests that the man grabbed the gun from a hotel security guard and opened fire on one of the workers, according to Rosenfeld.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri told CNN that the man was not a tourist, as police had initially thought, but a sous-chef who had been laid off from his job at the hotel.

The suspect was shot by Special Forces following an exchange of fire, she said.

Police believe the shooting was related to his dismissal from the hotel, she said.