4 dead, officer wounded in Alabama

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COLDWATER, Ala., Dec. 15 (UPI) -- A chase and shootout between police and a man suspected of killing three people left the gunman dead and an officer wounded in Alabama Saturday, police said.

Oxford police Chief Bill Partridge said the incident began about 10 a.m. with a woman and two children shot to death in a trailer park south of Heflin in Cleburne County, The Anniston Star reported.

Neighbors who heard gunshots called authorities and officers chased the suspect, identified by police as Romero Roberto Moya, 33, of Heflin, to Oxford where he crashed a car and exchanged gunfire with the officers.

Partridge said Moya, armed with an AK-47 assault rifle, critically wounded a Heflin police officer.

Police said Moya then commandeered a car and fled after the occupants got out, the Star said.

Police caught up to the car as it sped toward Coldwater, where Moya crashed into another car. Partridge said two Oxford police officers shot and killed the suspect as he got out of stolen car and reached for the assault rifle.

The woman driving the car Moya slammed into suffered minor injuries, Partridge said.

The names of the wounded officer, the three victims shot to death and the woman hurt in the crash had not been released, the newspaper said.