Three people were shot dead and at least two were wounded in a shooting spree at a Kansas City shopping mall, police said.
Kansas City police said a man pulled into a car park outside the shopping mall and shot dead two people who were parked on each side of him. He then went into the mall and wounded at least two other people.
Police killed the attacker, who was armed with what was described as a "long gun."
Police are investigating whether an earlier murder at a house six miles away involved the shopping mall gunman.
Local television reported late last night that the first victim was a woman (67) found dead in her kitchen. The reports quoted family members as saying a male neighbour had been harassing her.
The incident came nearly two weeks after a Virginia Tech university student killed 32 people and then himself in the worst mass shooting in modern US history.