Police launch inquiry after man kills 7 in mass shooting

INVESTIGATORS were working to unravel the motive behind a shooting rampage that killed seven people, including three children, and wounded another in a small Ohio town before the gunman died in a gunfight with police.

Police combed through three homes and searched outside a fourth in a wooded, residential area outside Akron, collecting evidence as they tried to piece together what happened during the shootings that shook a quiet neighbourhood.

Authorities did not release the condition of the survivor who was hospitalised, and they were withholding the names and ages of those involved until officers could tell victims’ family members, Copley police sergeant Eric Goodwin said. Autopsies began yesterday.