Four people were killed Friday in a rural part of the US state of Pennsylvania in a shooting rampage that apparently began at a church and continued along a road before the gunman was shot dead by state troopers, dpa reported.
Police said shots were fired at five separate locations along about 2 kilometres of the road, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported. Authorities said a woman was fatally shot at the church in Blair County about 200 kilometres east of Pittsburgh. One man was killed at a residence and another was shot dead in his car after the shooter rammed it.
Police said they shot and killed the assailant after he began firing at a state trooper's car while driving down the road and rammed that vehicle head-on.
Three state troopers were injured in the shooting. All were expected to be treated and released from hospital.
Police were trying to determine whether the victims were targeted or shot at random.
"I don't believe you're going to find any biological relationship between the suspect and victims," district attorney Rich Consiglio was quoted by the Tribune-Review as saying.
The shooting comes after a series of shootings in public places, including last week's rampage at an elementary school in Connecticut that killed 20 children and six adults. The massacre has prompted renewed calls for gun control legislation.