US gunman kills nine and himself in rampage
A gunman killed at least nine people on a terrifying rampage across two Alabama counties, burning down his mother’s home, killing members of his own family and shooting apparent strangers on their porches as he drove by, authorities said. He then fatally shot himself at a metals plant.
Police were investigating shootings in at least four different locations in three neighbouring communities, all of which were believed to be the work of a single gunman who had not yet been identified by investigators.
At least four other people, including a child, were injured.
The afternoon of bloodshed began in Kinston, near the Alabama-Florida border, where the shooter burned down his mother’s house, according to the Coffee County coroner, Robert Preachers.
Officials located the woman’s body inside the house, but they had not been able to get inside the still-burning house to determine if he shot her first.
The gunman then headed east, into Geneva County, where he shot and killed five people – four adults and a child – at a home in the nearby town of Samson. Then he killed one person each in two other homes.
The identities of all the victims were unknown, but Mr Preachers said they included other members of the shooter’s family.
“He started in his mother’s house,” Mr Preachers said. “Then he went to Samson and he killed his granny and granddaddy and aunt and uncle.”
“We don’t know what triggered it,” Mr Preachers added.
The gunman also shot at a state trooper’s car, striking the vehicle seven times and wounding the trooper with broken glass.
He then killed someone at a Samson supply store, and another person at a service station.
Samson contractor Greg McCullough said he was pumping gas at the station when the gunman opened fire, killing a woman coming out of the service station and wounding Mr McCullough in the shoulder and arm with bullet fragments that struck his truck and the pump.
“I first thought it was somebody playing,” he said. He said the gunman roared into the parking lot and slammed on his brakes. Then he saw the rifle.
He said the gunman fired and the rifle appeared to jam, then he “went back to firing”. Then he drove off.
Mr McCullough, a father of two, said he tried to help the woman who was shot and yelled for someone to call an ambulance.
“I’m just in awe that something like this could take place. That someone could do such a thing. It’s just shocking,” Mr McCullough said.
Police pursued the gunman to Reliable Metal Products just north of Geneva, about a dozen miles southeast of Samson, where he fired an estimated 30 rounds from a semiautomatic weapon, the Alabama safety department said.
One of the bullets hit Geneva Police Chief Frankie Lindsey, who was saved by his bullet proof vest.
The gunman then went inside the plant and shot himself, according to the safety department’s statement.
