5 Apr 2009

Three US police officers shot dead

2:45 pm on 5 April 2009

A man armed with an assault rifle has shot dead three police officers and wounded two others in the American city of Pittsburgh.

The man, named as Richard Poplawski, 23, surrendered after he was shot in the legs and has been taken into custody.

Pittsburgh Police Chief Nathan Harper says the officers were responding to a call about a domestic dispute when they were shot.

Police say Poplawski was wearing a bullet proof vest and gave himself up after trading gunfire with police for four hours before being injured.

The authorities have not speculated as to a motive, his friends said he had recently lost his job, and was worried that US President Barack Obama was about to ban guns.

This is the second such incident in two days.

On Saturday, a 42-year-old gunman killed 14 people, including himself, at an immigration services centre in Binghamton in New York state.