Gunman who killed eight in stand-off with police

A massive manhunt involving more than 100 police and helicopters with thermal imaging was under way today for a gunman who killed eight people in Virginia.

Police said Christopher Speight, 39, had fled to the woods, violently resisting efforts to take him in and nearly shooting down a police helicopter as it hovered over the area trying to flush him out.

State police said officers had Speight surrounded near the home in Appomattox, where seven of the bodies were found.

An eighth victim was found barely alive on the side of the road – which led to police being called – but died on the way to the hospital.

All the victims were adults and both men and women were killed, Virginia State Police sergeant Thomas Molnar said. Three of the bodies were found inside the home, and four just outside.

Police refused to speculate on a motive and would not say what type of weapon was used.

The drama paralysed the rural area as police swarmed forests trying to catch the suspect who fired at a state police helicopter, forcing it to land with a ruptured fuel tank. No police were injured after one or more rounds struck the helicopter.

Dog units and a National Guard helicopter with thermal imaging equipment were being used to search the woods.

The violence began shortly after noon yesterday when the injured man was found on a rural stretch of road. A deputy who went to investigate fled after he heard gunshots, police spokeswoman Corrine Geller said.

Police did not release the victims’ names or the suspect’s possible relationship to them.

Authorities told nearby residents to stay inside and a small Christian school was locked down until police could escort about 60 children from the building.

Resident Bethel Hawkins said police warned families to lock their doors in an area with many elderly residents.

Appomattox is in a county with a population of about 15,000, about 100 miles south west of Richmond.

It is best known as the place where Confederate general Robert E Lee surrendered his army in 1865 to Union general Ulysses S Grant to end the American Civil War.