Six killed in shooting spree

A DRUG offender with mental health problems who was recently released from jail has killed six people in a shooting spree, including a policewoman.

Isaac Zamora, 28, also injured another officer during a high speed chase on a freeway in Washington state in the north-west of the US. Zamora had just served a six-month jail sentence for drug possession in Skagit County and was supposed to be under community supervision.

Among Zamora’s victims was Skagit County sheriff’s deputy Anne Jackson, 40, and a motorist who died on Interstate 5 as the suspect fled.

At least two others were wounded, including a Washington State Patrol trooper and a motorcyclist, who was shot in the arm at a petrol station.

The officer was shot while responding to an initial call. A second person was killed at the same location near the small town of Alger in north-west Washington.

Two construction workers were found shot nearby and a body found a few houses away, Trooper Keith Leary told reporters.

After the shootings, Zamora raced south on the freeway at speeds in excess of 145km/h, with troopers, sheriff’s deputies and Mount Vernon police in pursuit, Leary said.