DELTONA, Fla. — A barricaded man, who claimed to have shot and killed his nephew in a Deltona standoff and was taken to a hospital after shooting himself early Friday morning has died, according to officials.

Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood told Spectrum News 13 via text message Friday morning that the gunman, 60-year-old Noel Flores, has died after he shot himself. 

He also stated that Flores claimed to have shot and killed his nephew Arthur Johnson, 44, because he threatened him with a knife.

The standoff started just after 7 p.m. Thursday, at the Belltower Apartments at 530 Belltower Ave. after the armed Flores barricaded himself and said that he had allegedly shot and killed Johnson, who is the nephew of Flores' deceased wife, in the apartment unit, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

Flores called 911 and spoke with the Sheriff's Office telecommunicator for about 6.5 minutes, with her telling him repeatedly to put the gun down. 

However, he said countless times that he could not go back to jail.

"I love you so much because you’re helping me out, but I'm just telling you the truth: I cannot do it; I cannot do it. I can't," he told her, according to a news release sent out by the Sheriff's Office later on Friday morning. 

Flores spoke again with the telecommunicator and even with Chitwood, but he would not come out, stated the news release.

“It was clear that he kept saying this was going to end one of two ways, me coming out which I cannot face my sister for what I've done, and it's going to end with me shooting myself in the heart. That's what is going to happen. What will you think of me if I did that? What do you think my pastor will think of me? What will the other cops out there think of me if I do that? That's what he kept asking me over and over again,” Sheriff Chitwood said.

Investigators released body cam video from the six hour standoff: 

On the 911 call, Flores said he shot his nephew in self-defense. According to the news release, Flores stated "that he shot the man after the man pointed the gun at him and also threatened him with a knife while deputies were outside the apartment building."

However, Sheriff Chitwood said that doesn't add up, and it looks like Flores staged the scene.

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office said they found a man dead inside after they went into the apartment with a bomb robot.

It was around 3 a.m. Friday, that the standoff ended when the SWAT team entered the apartment unit and discovered that Flores was in a closet with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his chest, the Sheriff's Office stated in a tweet.

He was taken to Central Florida Regional Hospital in critical condition and later died from his injury. 

The apartment complex was evacuated and the Red Cross helped displaced families.

Flores is believed to be connected to bomb threats made against the Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand on Tuesday, November 6, stated the Sheriff's Office in an earlier news release. 

Two calls made 20 minutes apart stated that people in the courthouse "were going to die." Officials searched the courthouse's four floors with an explosives detection K-9, but nothing was found.