Appomattox Virginia shootings

Several people fatally shot near Appomattox, says the Washington Post- and other news outlets are discussing it, like the New York Times–and others. Developing. Appomattox is where General Robert E. Lee surrendered at the end the Civil War.

Several people were shot to death Tuesday near historic Appomattox, Va., according to state police, in what a spokesman for Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell called ” a horrific tragedy.”

Authorities did not release the number of dead, but in a move that indicated his view of the severity of the matter, McDonnell said he was sending his chief public safety official to the scene to join the head of the state police.

Authorities said they believed a suspect in the killings to be surrounded in a wooded area near where they apparently occurred. At one point during the incident, a shot apparently fired by the suspect, disabled a state police helicopter.

In an interview Tuesday night, an Appomattox County official said he understood that two people had been killed in a domestic dispute and that a third was also shot.

However, state police steadfastly declined for hours to specify the number of those slain. A spokesman said only that there were “several fatalities.”