Gunman kills at least four people in Texas, police say

Thu Aug 8, 2013 11:15am EDT

(Reuters) - A gunman in Texas killed at least four people in a Dallas-area shooting rampage on Wednesday night which also wounded four other people, police said on Thursday.

The suspected shooter, Erbie Bowser, was taken into custody in the Dallas suburb where two of the four victims were killed, Corporal Melissa Frank of the DeSoto Police Department said.

The shooting spree, in which Bowser was alleged to have detonated one or more explosive devices that may have been hand grenades, began in a home in Dallas and ended soon afterwards in another house about seven miles away in DeSoto, Frank said.

The victims were not identified, but unconfirmed reports said a former girlfriend of Bowser was among the dead.

In addition to the four people killed, two in Dallas and two in DeSoto, four others were wounded, including two boys aged 11 and 13, Frank said.

Laura Jobe, a spokeswoman for the Mesquite Independent School District outside of Dallas, confirmed that Bowser, a certified special education teacher, worked at two schools there from December 2001 through March 2010, and left on good terms. He also coached football at the West Mesquite High School.

"He left on good terms. He did resign, he was not terminated," she said.

"He had a good history here, he was well liked. He's been described as a gentle giant," Jobe said. She was referring to the fact that Bowser is what she described as "very tall and just a very heavy man, a very large man."

Frank said no information about Bowser's background would be released, pending the filing of formal charges against him.

(Reporting by Tom Brown; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/MostRead/~3/d_eFh4s8CUw/story01.htm

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