Spree Shooter Kills 7 Before Shooting Himself

"GRAND RAPIDS, MI — A gunman opened fire in two Michigan homes Thursday, killing his daughter, ex-girlfriend and five other people before leading police on a high-speed chase and taking hostages inside a stranger's home.

"The five-hour standoff ended when he killed himself as authorities were telling him how to surrender.

"The hostages were released unharmed, and 34-year-old Rodrick Shonte Dantzler died at the scene of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, police said.

"The manhunt for Dantzler began earlier in the day after four people were found dead in one Grand Rapids home and three were discovered in another across town. Two of the dead were children.

"`It makes no sense to try to rationalize it, what the motives were,` Police Chief Kevin Belk said. `You just cannot come up with a logical reason why someone takes seven peoples' lives.`

"Following the discovery of the bodies, Dantzler led officers on a high-speed chase, crashed his car and took hostages he did not know inside a random home, police said. Dozens of officers with guns drawn cordoned off a neighborhood near a small lake in the northern part of the city and shut down nearby Interstate 96.

"During the standoff, Dantzler fired sporadically at officers and inside the house. He vacillated between threatening to shoot the hostages and pleading with police to take him out, even asking negotiators whether there were snipers outside the home and where he should stand, Belk said.

"But he changed course after several hours and asked how he could surrender. Belk said officers were talking with him on the phone about how to turn himself in when they heard the gunshot.

"`At the time the incident occurred, he was talking about coming out, giving himself up,` Belk said. `Obviously he decided at the last moment to fire the gun.`

"The names of the dead were not immediately released. Autopsies were scheduled for Friday."

From WILX.com...