A gunman who killed a hostage and then himself inside the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Friday afternoon was an employee of Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.

The gunman entered a building with offices and lab space early in the afternoon local time, taking two hostages, according to local police officials. “Early in the incident,” one of the hostages, a male, was killed at the space center, a Houston Police Department spokesman said. A four-hour standoff ensued. Later in the afternoon, police and SWAT forces entered the building and found the gunman dead of a self-inflicted wound. Another hostage, a female, was found with her limbs taped but otherwise apparently unharmed.

John Prosser, a Jacobs Engineering spokesman, confirmed that the gunman was an employee of the company.

“We are cooperating with local NASA officials and local police officials in their investigations,” said Prosser. “We have no statement beyond this at this time.”

Jacobs, one of the nation’s largest engineering and construction firm with $7.8 billion in 2006 revenues, has long had contracts with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, both at facilities at Cape Canaveral in Florida and at the Johnson Space Center.

According to the company’s Web site, the company’s Engineering and Science Contract Group has “nearly 1,500 professionals” at the Johnson Space Center. It performs work on the International Space Station, space shuttle flight programs and production of both hardware and software for other NASA programs. The company also operates on-site laboratories.

Many Jacobs Engineering workers are housed in Building 44, the site of Friday’s standoff.