Multiple killings under investigation in Missouri

Missouri authorities say they are investigating at six different crime scenes after a man allegedly killed seven people late Thursday night before turning his gun on himself.

Sgt. Jeff Kinder of the Missouri Highway Patrol told reporters Friday morning that the apparent suspect was a 36-year-old man from Tyrone, which is located in the southern part of the state. He was found in a vehicle dead of an apparent gunshot wound.

Kinder says the suspect appears to have shot and killed seven people at four different residences.

A girl called the Texas County Sheriff's Department Thursday night saying she had fled to a neighbor's house after hearing gunshots in her home. Deputies who responded to her residence found two dead victims.

Throughout the night, authorities found five more dead victims and one wounded victim at three additional residences in Tyrone. The wounded victim was taken to a nearby hospital.

Police investigating the case also discovered the body of an elderly woman who appeared to have died of natural causes. When asked whether the elderly woman was related to the suspect Kinder said, "I'm sure there is some type of relationship there but I'm not sure what it is."

The elderly woman's body was found at a fifth residence.

Tyrone is in largely rural Texas County, where the scenic rivers and woods draw canoeists, trout fishermen and deer hunters. The area has seen an exodus of shoe and garment factories over the decades, along with a drop in dairy and poultry farms, County Clerk Don Troutman said.

Troutman described Tyrone as little more than a pocket of houses. A couple of general stores are long gone, and the one-room schoolhouse has been converted to a community building, he said.

"There's not even a stop sign there," said Troutman, a lifelong Texas County resident who has been clerk for 36 years. He said of the bloodshed: "We've never had anything of this magnitude before. It's a shock."

Scott Dill, superintendent of the school district that serves Tyrone, called the area "bucolic" and beautiful, and added, "We are holding our breath as a community to find out specifics."

"We want to help people make sense of this tragedy," he said.