Teacher held after four die in Texas gun spree

A gunman in Texas has killed at least four people in a shooting rampage in which four others were wounded.

The suspected gunman, Erbie Bowser, was taken into custody in the Dallas suburb where two of the four victims were killed, a police spokesman said.

The shooting spree, in which Mr Bowser was alleged to have detonated one or more explosive devices that may have been hand grenades, began on Wednesday night in a home in Dallas and ended soon afterwards in another house seven miles away in DeSoto.

The victims were not identified, but unconfirmed reports said a former girlfriend of Mr Bowser was among the dead.

In addition to the four people killed, two in Dallas and two in DeSoto, four others were wounded, including two boys aged 11 and 13.

Laura Jobe, a spokeswoman for the Mesquite Independent School District, confirmed that Mr Bowser, a certified special education teacher, worked at two schools there from December 2001 to March 2010, and left on good terms. He was also a football coach at the West Mesquite High School.

The Dallas Morning News re- ported that Mr Bowser was a former member of a hip-hop dance troupe of "beefy men" that entertained fans at Dallas basketball games.

Reuters