Police: 7 fatally shot, gunman dead in southeastern Missouri

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Seven people were shot to death and one was injured in overnight attacks in a small southeastern Missouri town, and the suspected gunman was found dead in a neighboring county, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said Friday.

The victims' bodies were found in four different homes in Tyrone, in Texas County, about 40 miles north of the Arkansas border.

The 36-year-old suspect from Tyrone was later found in a vehicle in Shannon County dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, patrol spokesman Sgt. Jeff Kinder said.

The Texas County Sheriff's office received a call about 10:15 p.m. Thursday from a young woman who said she had fled to a neighbor's home after hearing gunshots in her house, Kinder said. When officers arrived, they found two people dead in that home.

Officers later found five more victims and one injured person in three additional homes.

The body of an older woman was found in another home but she appeared to have died of natural causes, Kinder said.

The names of the victims, the gunman and a possible motive have not been released. The injured person was taken to a hospital.

Texas County coroner Tom Whittaker said investigators were still working at the scenes Friday morning.

"To my recollection, we've never had anything like this," Whittaker said.