Gunman Dead After Killing Four at Apartment Complex

A gunman killed four people and two dogs and then shot himself to death at a Phoenix apartment complex on Saturday, police said.

Officers responded to an emergency call reporting shots fired around 9:15 a.m. local time, said Phoenix police spokesman Sergeant Tommy Thompson. They found a man whose apartment was damaged by gunfire but who was not wounded.

In trying to trace the source of the gunfire, the officers narrowed it to two possible units. When a witness reported seeing someone enter one of the residences, police sought to clear the neighboring unit and entered through the back patio, Thompson said.

Police found the bodies of two people shot to death on the patio and went inside and found two other slain individuals and two dogs that had also been shot to death, he said.

After police discovered the bodies, a special weapons and tactics team entered the neighboring apartment and found the suspected gunman, a man in his 50s, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Thompson said.

The ages and genders of the four people killed in the neighboring apartment were not immediately available. Thompson said police were seeking a motive for the shootings.

The apartment where the suspect was found appeared to be his residence, Thompson said.