ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) - The Latest on a shooting that left four dead in North Carolina (all times local):
11:50 a.m.
A North Carolina police chief says a man shot his girlfriend and her five children - killing the woman and two teens - before shooting himself.
Asheville Police Chief Tammy Hooper says the shooting happened Wednesday night after Maurice Laron Garner got into an argument with his girlfriend at the hospital where she worked.
Hooper said that the woman, 32-year-old Erica Nichelle Smith of Asheville, was killed. Her 15-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter also died.
A 10-year-old boy who was grazed by a bullet called 911. An 8-year-old and 12-year-old also had non-life threatening injuries.
Hooper said it doesn’t appear that Garner was the father of any of the children. She said he was found in a car nearby with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
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10:30 a.m.
Officials now say four people have died and three people were hurt in a shooting in western North Carolina.
Asheville police spokeswoman Christina Hallingse said in a news release Thursday that the suspected gunman is among the dead. Hallingse says it appears Maurice Laron Garner shot and killed himself.
The spokeswoman said 32-year-old Erica Nichelle Smith was found dead at the home around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Asheville City Schools spokeswoman Ashley-Michelle Thublin told local media that four students were injured. Two of them have died. Their names have not been released.
The names and conditions of those being treated at Mission Hospital in Asheville have not been released.
Police have not said what sparked the shooting. Police Chief Tammy Hooper planned to release more information later Thursday.
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