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6 dead, 2 wounded in Wash. state shooting spree

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-03 14:17

ALGER, Wash. - A terrifying shooting spree that stretched from a small northwest Washington town onto the state's busiest highway left six people dead and two more wounded on Tuesday.

A suspect vehicle, metallic tan GMC pickup truck, is seen leaving southbound on Interstate 5 at the Kincaid Street exit in Mount Vernon, Wash., Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008. The Washington State Patrol says six people are dead and two are wounded after a shooting rampage. Authorities say the suspect turned himself in after the shootings Tuesday afternoon. A sheriff's deputy is among the dead. [Agencies]

The dead included a Skagit County sheriff's deputy and the wounded included a Washington State Patrol trooper shot while trying to chase the shooter down on Interstate 5, the State Patrol said. A suspect in the shootings has surrendered.

The man who turned himself in was known to authorities as "someone with a mental illness," Trooper Keith Leary said. State Department of Corrections officials are "99 percent sure" the man is a 28-year-old with a lengthy criminal record, spokesman Chad Lewis said.

The victims were not immediately identified.

The dead were found at multiple crime scenes. They included the deputy shot while responding to a call and a second person killed at the same location near the small town of Alger; two construction workers found shot nearby, and a third body found a few houses away, Leary said. Authorities were investigating any connection among those sites.

A motorist was shot and killed on Interstate 5 as the suspect fled south.

The wounded included a motorcyclist who was shot in the arm at a Shell gas station in Alger and the trooper hit as the suspect raced along I-5.

After the shootings in the Alger area, the armed man raced south on Interstate 5 at speeds in excess of 90 mph, with troopers, sheriff's deputies and Mount Vernon police in pursuit, Leary said.

The civilian motorist was shot and killed and the unidentified trooper was grazed by a bullet along I-5 near a rest stop, Leary said. The trooper was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

The first shootings were reported shortly after 2 p.m. Tuesday and the suspect was in custody by about 4:30 p.m.

State Patrol troopers temporarily closed all southbound lanes of I-5 north of Burlington for a period Tuesday evening, backing up traffic for miles, as they investigated that crime scene.