US police officer kills 5 in rampage

A rampaging policeman is on the run today after shooting dead five neighbours and wounding two others.

Veteran US police officer Edward Lutes is believed to have begun his spree by killing two people next door to his house in Dover, a small New Jersey coastal town about 60 miles from New York.

He then shot more victims in another house before driving to nearby Barnegat where he shot and badly injured James Costello, the police chief for Seaside Heights.

Authorities said they could give no motive for the killings, but warned that Lutes, a policeman for 15 years, is armed and dangerous. He was last seen driving a blue Buick Regal.

The Dover police chief said his force is protecting a number of other possible targets. A sixth person was also shot and taken to hospital in Toms River. None of the dead has been identified. The shootings began late last night.