Police: Gunman dead after killing 2 at fire hydrant factory

ALBERTVILLE, Ala. (AP) — A worker wielding a handgun fatally shot two people and wounded two others at an Alabama fire hydrant factory early Tuesday before killing himself, police said.

The shooting — which happened about 2:30 a.m. at a Mueller Co. plant in Albertville — adds to a slew of homicides around the country. Several hours later, gunfire in Chicago claimed four victims.

In the Alabama case, a manhunt ended when the shooter's body was found inside a Jeep in Guntersville, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) away from the factory, shortly after daybreak. Multiple weapons were found inside the vehicle, Albertville Police Chief Jamie Smith said at a news conference.

Smith said the suspect appears to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. What prompted him to kill and maim his coworkers wasn't immediately clear, the chief said. He called the shooting “completely unprovoked.”

The chief identified the dead men as Michael Dobbins and David Horton, and the shooter as Andreas Horton, 34. He said that as far as he knew, the Hortons were not related, and had “no ties other than co-workers.”

Two other people —- Casey Sampson and Isaac Byrd — were hospitalized. Their conditions weren't immediately known. They were taken to a nearby hospital and later transferred to a larger hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the chief said.

Cody Windsor, a Mueller employee who was at home at the time, told The Associated Press that he knew both Hortons, but didn't know what might have prompted the shootings.

Windsor said friends working the overnight shift told him the shooting happened in a part of the plant where fire hydrants and pipes are painted, and that an announcement about an active shooter was made over a PA system at the factory, which occupies several buildings over a large...