Gunman kills police officer, mayor's sister in US

Houston, Aug 27: A gunman killed a police officer and fatally stabbed a woman while injuring two others on Thursday in Sunset suburb in southeastern US state of Louisiana.

The assailant, identified as Harrison Lee Wiley Jr, drove his car to a convenience store in Sunset and barricaded himself inside, St Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz said.

Officers threw tear gas and stormed the store when the man refused to leave, St Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby J Guidroz said. He was later overpowered by police authorities and taken in custody, he said.

Sunset police officer Henry Wilson, 51, the first responder, was shot and killed at the scene of a domestic disturbance call where authorities found three women with serious stab wounds, Guidroz said.

One of them, Shameka Johnson, 40, was pronounced dead. Her sister Surlay Johnson, 34, was in critical condition at Lafayette General Hospital.

Both are sisters of Shaterral Johnson, interim mayor of Grand Couteau, a town just to the northeast of Sunset. Sunset is a town of about 3,000 people located some 15 miles north of Lafayette.

The fourth victim —- Courtney Jolivette, Wiley's wife —- was in surgery Wednesday night at Apria Medical Center in Alexandria.

At least 50 local, parish and state officers responded to the incident at the convenience store, and "it went to hell in a handbasket from there," Guidroz said.

Wiley wasn't injured except for tear-gas burns to his face and neck, Guidroz said, adding, it is being suspected that his act was drug-induced.

"When people ingest illegal drugs, they get brave, they get stupid," he said. Indian-American Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal took to Twitter to react to the shooting incident.

"We are monitoring the situation in Sunset as details unfold and are praying," Jindal tweeted.

State police Superintendent Mike Edmonson said troopers were on the way to the scene in Sunset in southwestern Louisiana, about 70 miles west of capital Baton Rouge, after getting a call around 4:45 pm, local time Wednesday.

The incident took place a day after the shocking shooting incident in Virginia state in which a woman TV reporter and a cameraman were killed on live television when a "disgruntled" ex-employee of the TV station opened fire, before succumbing to his injuries from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

PTI