Gunman Kills 2, Wounds 2 in Vermont

Hours after breaking up with his girlfriend, a man shot four people Thursday, killing the girlfriend’s mother and her coworker at an elementary school, before shooting and wounding himself in the head, police said.

Investigators said they had been searching for Christopher Williams, 26, since early Thursday when the girlfriend called police to report he had taken her car after their breakup.

Later in the day, police said Williams killed Andrea Lambesis’ 57-year-old mother, Linda, at her home, then headed to the nearby Essex Elementary School, where Lambesis was a teacher.

When he did not find Lambesis, he shot and killed teacher Mary Shanks, 56, Police Chief David Demag said. Another person at the school also was shot and wounded. Police had reported earlier that two were injured.

Some 39 staff members were in the building preparing for the start of the school year when the gunman showed up, Demag said. Classes were to start next week.

Williams then went to a condominium complex, where he shot an acquaintance, Chad Johansen, 26, before turning the gun on himself, the chief said.

He said Williams shot himself twice in the head, but was still able to talk to police when they arrived.

Demag said the three injured people, including the shooter, were taken to a hospital. All were in fair or good condition late Thursday.

Jillian Schultz, 22, a resident of the condominiums, said she was in the yard playing with her 13-month-old son and the 2-year-old son of a neighbor she said she knew only as Chad when Williams -- disheveled and sweating -- ran past her, asking, “Where’s Chad? Where’s Chad?”

Moments later, she heard four gunshots and saw bullets rip through bushes 10 feet away.

“I gathered the kids and the neighbor’s kid, and I got out of there,” Schultz said.

Then she saw her neighbor come toward the building, bleeding from the back and yelling to her to call 911.

Williams was arrested on a lawn between the condominiums and a neighboring greenhouse business, said Peter Bearor, who was arriving home from work at the time. Police at the scene would not talk to reporters.

Dozens of police from around Chittenden County, including tactical units armed with automatic weapons, converged on the school.

People from the school were taken to a supermarket for holding about a half mile away.

David Pariseau said his wife, Ellen, a teacher, told him she and six or seven other teachers had locked themselves in a classroom during the rampage.