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Police tape surrounds one of the crime scenes in Tyrone, located in south-central Missouri.(Photo: Jeff McNeill, Houston (Mo.) Herald)
A gunman went door to door in a small south-central Missouri community late Thursday, fatally shooting 7 people before driving to an adjoining county and apparently killing himself, State Highway Patrol Sgt. Jeff Kinder said Friday.
Texas County deputies investigating the killings in the unincorporated community of Tyrone, Mo., also found the body of an elderly woman who is believed to have died of natural causes. "We're not calling her a victim at this time," Kinder told reporters in Houston, Mo.
Authorities responding to a house in Tyrone, Mo., on Feb. 27, 2015, found multiple victims of a shooting spree.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Doug Davison, Houston Herald via AP)
Kinder did not release the names of the dead or explain any possible connection between the victims and the 36-year-old man suspected in the killings.
The deputies found bodies in four separate residences in the Tyrone area after responding to a 911 call around 10:15 p.m. Thursday regarding a disturbance. The caller, described as a juvenile girl, reported hearing shots in her residence "and immediately fled to a neighbor's house," the statement said.
Deputies found two bodies at the first house then five more bodies – plus an injured person – at three more houses. The body of the deceased elderly woman was found at yet another residence as deputies canvassed the area, the highway patrol said.
The gunman's body was found in a car in Shannon County to the east.
Texas County Coroner Tom Whittaker told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the deceased woman and the alleged gunman have the same surname. Investigators, he said, suspect that he may have gone on a shooting spree after discovering her body.
"We're speculating that he came home and found her deceased and then for whatever reason went on a rampage and started killing people," Whittaker said. "This is just so strange. Right now, with the shooter dead, we don't know. Is there something that sparked this? We're still in the information-gathering stage."
Whittaker told the newspaper that it appears that the deceased woman, who was in her 70s and under a doctor's care, had been dead at least 24 hours. He also said there were no visible signs of trauma, indicating she died of her illness.
Contributing: Brandie Piper, KSDK-TV in St. Louis
Following Doug Stanglin on Twitter @dstanglin
USATODAY.COM
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