5 Slain in Shootout Rampage That Ends at School in Chicago

A lone gunman walked into an auto parts store and opened fire today and then took his rampage across the street to a high school, killing four people, including a police officer, before being shot to death.

It was unclear if the attacker, described as a young neighborhood troublemaker, shot himself or was killed by police.

The gunman was heavily armed when he walked into the Comet Auto Parts store on Chicago’s West Side and “just started shooting,” said the Rev. C. Ferguson, a witness whose son worked at the store.

Ferguson said the unidentified assailant, who “looked all messed up,” fled the store yelling to passers-by, “Nobody move!” He ran across the street and in the side door of the Montefiore School, a public high school for boys with disciplinary problems, with his gun drawn.

“He walked in shooting,” Ferguson said.

Students Uninjured

The gunman killed two employees in the auto parts store, a custodian in the school and a policewoman. Two people, including another police officer, were seriously injured but none of the students were hurt.

Ferguson described the suspect as a “neighborhood kid and troublemaker.”

“He’s one of those guys who just hangs around the neighborhood and has never had a job,” he said.

Ferguson said his son, who was uninjured, told him the assailant entered the store and opened fire.