Texas gunman kills six, including four kids, before being cornered in armed standoff with Houston police
A lone gunman has killed at least six people, including four children, during a domestic dispute in Texas that triggered an armed standoff with police.
A woman was also left fighting for her life after suffering a gunshot wound to the head during the incident in the residential suburb of Spring, about 40 kilometres north of Houston.
Harris County constable Ron Hickman told reporters four children, some as young as eight, were killed along with two adult males.
The injured woman was able to tell authorities where the suspect, a relative, was headed, triggering a police chase that lasted 20 minutes.
"We got him in a cul-de-sac," Mr Hickman said, after at least an hour had passed during which the suspect sat in his vehicle surrounded by about 50 police officers with their guns drawn. There were at least a dozen patrol cars waiting to pounce.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office later said on Twitter that the suspect was in custody. No one was immediately available at the press office.
A hostage team had been negotiating with the suspect for him to surrender. The suspect had not taken anyone hostage.
The shooting is the latest in a spate of similar incidents in the US.
President Barack Obama has warned the US needs to do some "soul-searching" when considering new gun-control legislation.
On May 23, a student killed six people and then himself in California, while on June 5 a gunman killed one person and injured two others in Seattle, Washington.
In June, a couple with possible anti-government militia links shot dead two police officers and a civilian in Las Vegas and a teenage gunman shot a 14-year-old student dead at an Oregon high school.
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