Georgia murder suspect killed in shootout with police following manhunt

July 16 (UPI) -- A man accused of fatally shooting four people in the small Georgia town of Hampton over the weekend is dead following a police manhunt, authorities said Sunday.

Andre Longmore, 40, was killed in a shootout with police Sunday in the city of Jonesboro, which is located north of Hampton and just south of the Georgian capital of Atlanta.

"The monster's dead," Sheriff Reginald Scandrett of Henry County, in which Hampton resides, said Sunday in a press conference.

"The citizens of Hampton, the county of Henry, the metro Atlanta area and the entire state of Georgia can breathe a little easy tonight that this suspect is off the street."

Longmore is accused of killing four senior citizens over a 10-minute shooting spree that started at about 10:45 a.m. Saturday in Hampton. Police launched a manhunt for the suspect who was said to have last been seen in a black 2017 GMC Acadia, which was later revealed to have belonged to one of his victims.

Scandrett said that through the investigative efforts of various law enforcement agencies, police tracked Longmore to the city of Jonesboro in Clayton County, where the suspect was engaged in two separate gunfights, the second of which resulted in his death, authorities said.

Several officers were injured, but all are expected to survive. The most severely injured was shot in the back but Scandrett said the unidentified officer was conscious, breathing and talking.

"It is an absolute honor to serve with them," Scandrett said. "It's an absolute honor to have this day that we can breathe a little bit easier, sleep a little bit better tonight knowing this monster is off of our streets."

James Turner, chief of police for the city of Hampton, identified the four slain victims during the press conference Sunday as Scott Leavitt, 67, and his 66-year-old wife, Shirley Leavitt; Steve Blizzard, 65; and Ronald Jeffers, 66.

He said all four of the victims and the suspect lived in the same Dogwood Lakes neighborhood.

Asked if this was uncommon for Hampton, Turner said that the city is among the country's safest.

"Last homicide we had in Hampton was 2018," he said.

No motive for the shootings was given as authorities said they were still being investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The identities of the injured officers were also being withheld from the public for the time being.

"Yesterday will certainly go down as one of the saddest in the 150-year history of this city," Hampton city manager Alex Cohilas said. "We tragically lost four citizens and this community is grieving."