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'Eight die' in Virginia shootings Eight dead in Virginia shootings
(about 2 hours later)
Eight people are reported to have been killed by a lone gunman in the US state of Virginia. Eight people - all of them adults - have been shot and killed by a lone gunman in the US state of Virginia.
The death toll was given by a law enforcement official on condition of anonymity, the Associated Press says. Police say seven bodies were found at one home, while an eighth shooting victim was found at the side of the road and died on the way to hospital.
State police had earlier said that there were multiple fatalities, and that a suspect was surrounded just outside the town of Appomattox. Officers say they have surrounded a suspect in woodland just outside the central town of Appomattox.
It was not immediately known what prompted the shootings, which began just after noon on Tuesday local time. At one point, a police helicopter was fired on and forced to land with a ruptured fuel tank.
It began after an injured man was found on a rural stretch of road, the Associated Press reports. All the victims were adults and both men and women were killed, state police Sergeant Thomas Molnar said.
A police helicopter that responded to the incident was fired on and forced to land with a ruptured fuel tank.
The officers on board were not injured.
Police said at a media briefing that officers from across the state had been brought in to the area.Police said at a media briefing that officers from across the state had been brought in to the area.
"We have him [the gunman] contained, we're fairly sure of that," they said."We have him [the gunman] contained, we're fairly sure of that," they said.
A number of people living in the sealed-off wooded area have been evacuated.A number of people living in the sealed-off wooded area have been evacuated.
It is not known what prompted the shootings.It is not known what prompted the shootings.
Appomattox is about 160km (100 miles) south-west of Virginia's capital Richmond.Appomattox is about 160km (100 miles) south-west of Virginia's capital Richmond.
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