Assailant among eight killed in Texas shooting

WASHINGTON: The death toll in a mass shooting that unfurled chaotically on highways in western Texas has risen to eight including assailant, local media reported Sunday, citing authorities.

Police had said Saturday that five people died and 21 were wounded in the extended shootout on roads between the cities of Midland and Odessa.

The assailant died in a shootout with police outside an Odessa movie theater. On Sunday, an Odessa city spokesman told reporters that there were now eight confirmed deaths, including the shooter -- three in Midland and five in Odessa -- NBC affiliate NewsWest9 reported.

The shooter´s identity and motive have yet to be released, though police described him as a white man in his mid-30s. The incident began when troopers tried to pull over a gold-colored passenger vehicle on the Interstate 20 highway.

Before it stopped, "the male driver (and only occupant in the vehicle) pointed a rifle toward the rear window of his car and fired several shots toward the DPS patrol unit," the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement. One trooper was wounded, and the suspect fled "and continued shooting innocent people," the department said.

The shooter led police on a wild chase during which he hijacked a US postal truck and opened fire at random.