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Re: Nine killed in Alabama shooting spree
GENEVA, Ala. - A gunman went on a shooting spree in two neighboring south Alabama towns Tuesday, killing nine people before he shot himself at a metals plant, authorities said.
State police and Geneva Mayor Wynnton Melton said that 10 people were dead, including the gunman.
More people were believed to have been wounded. A spokeswoman at Flowers Hospital in Dothan said two children were airlifted to Children's Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham.
The shooter, who remained unnamed but was described as a white man in his 30s, first killed his mother in Samson, Ala., Melton told MSNBC TV, then shot to death eight other people before committing suicide in a metals plant in nearby Geneva.
State and local police are investigating at least four crime scenes believed to involve one gunman, according to the Alabama state police.
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 Preachers said they included other members of the shooter's family.
"He started in his mother's house," 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," 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 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.
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," McCullough told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
The man, state police said, then pulled into the parking lot of Reliable Metal Products two miles north of Geneva on Alabama Highway 27, where he fired an estimated 30-round burst at pursuing officers. One of the bullets hit Geneva Police Chief Frankie Lindsey, who was saved by his bullet proof vest, the safety department said.
The gunman entered the business. Within minutes, shots were heard from within Reliable Metal, and law enforcement officers found the man dead from what are believed to be self-inflicted gunshots.
The gunman had worked at Reliable Metal, said state Rep. Warren Beck, a Republican whose district includes Geneva. Authorities said he used multiple weapons.
"My secretary heard gunfire everywhere," he said. "This is one of the most tragic events ever in Geneva County."
Reliable Metal Products makes grills and vents for heating and air conditioning systems, mainly for hotels. A person who answered the phone at the plant said no one could talk about the shooting.
State Sen. Harri Anne Smith, R-Slocomb, said some of those killed in Samson were sitting outside.
"He was just driving down the street shooting at people sitting on their porches," she said. "A family was just sitting on the porch and they were shot."
Soleta Darden witnessed the shootout, the Dothan Eagle reported.
"I heard five shots to my right, and then I looked up and saw a maroon Eclipse speed off from the scene, then I saw deputies and troopers in pursuit after him,” Darden said. "I was just scared, crazy scared. I thought, 'What the crap is going on.'"
Geneva is near the Florida border in southeast Alabama. It has a population about 4,400, and neighboring Samson about 2,000.
WTVY TV reported that the gunman did not injure anyone at Reliable Metal Products, according to witnesses. The station got a call from a worker at the business as they crouched in a corner during the ordeal.
The FBI bureau in Mobile sent an agent to assist the Geneva County sheriff's office and local police, a spokeswoman for the FBI told CNN. A message left by The Associated Press with the FBI was not immediately returned.
The towns of Geneva and Samson are about 11 miles apart, and roughly 30 miles south of Fort Rucker.
Re: Nine killed in Alabama shooting spree
Respect to the friends and families of those affected.
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