UN security guard from Miami hailed as hero

MIAMI (AP) — A United Nations security guard from Miami who died fighting the Taliban during an attack on a hotel in Afghanistan is being hailed as a hero by top U.N. staff.

Twenty-seven-year-old Louis Maxwell was killed during the gunfight Wednesday at the hotel in Kabul filled with U.N. workers.

Guests cowered inside their rooms or jumped from windows as Maxwell and another U.N. security officer fought with three militants who attacked at dawn.

Fire consumed part of the building during the two-hour siege, which left 11 people dead including the attackers.

Maxwell was a 2000 graduate of Miami Senior High School. He enjoyed playing trumpet and fishing with his father. He survived by his parents, a sister and two children.

The other officer killed was Laurance Mefful of Ghana.