4 dead in triple murder-suicide near St. Louis -

Nov 30, 2010

4 dead in triple murder-suicide near St. Louis

05:21 PM

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A body is removed from a duplex in Bonne Terre, Mo., outside St. Louis, where a man murdered three people before killing himself when police confronted him.

CAPTION

By Tom Gannam, AP

A 25-year-old man killed two women and a man before taking his own life this morning in Bonne Terre, Mo., outside St. Louis, the local Daily Journal reports.

One of the dead women, age 19, was holding a baby when she was shot inside an SUV after the gunman dragged them from a duplex, according to a neighbor, who said the woman had been trying to break up with the gunman. Authorities said a 32-year-old man was killed in the doorway and a 37-year-old woman was slain in a bedroom, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says.

The gunman fled into the woods after the shootings and killed himself when police confronted him.

The baby and another child were not hurt and were placed in protective custody.

Meanwhile, in murders that are generating bigger headlines, two mourners were slain and at least one other was wounded outside a St. Louis funeral home today in retaliation for the killing of a rival gang member, police say.

Chief Dan Isom said the shootings at the Reliable Funeral Home were the result of "an ongoing feud between gangs," the Post-Dispatch reports. The victims were attending the funeral of David Terell Davis Sr., who was found dead in a yard Nov. 19.

Police are searching for three gunmen who fled, as well as a fourth mourner who may have been wounded.

St. Louis tops the nation's murder chart, according to FBI statistics.

(Posted by Michael Winter)

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About Doug Stanglin

Doug is an unrepentant news junkie who loves breaking news and has been known to watch C-SPAN even on vacation. He has covered a wide range of domestic and international news stories, from prison riots in Oklahoma to the Moscow coup against Mikhail Gorbachev. Doug previously served as foreign editor at USA TODAY. More about Doug

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