West Virginia police are hunting a suspected sniper after three people were shot dead in attacks similar to the killings that terrorised the Washington area last year.
The victims appear to have been selected at random by the same gunman, officers said. All three were gunned down outside grocery shops around Charleston over the last week.
Each of the victims - two men and a woman - was killed by a single shot, late at night, and the bullets taken from two of the victims have the same characteristics, police said.
They are hunting a black pick-up truck seen by a witness at the scene of the third shooting.
"It is our belief the shooter made the shot from inside the truck, due to the fact that, immediately after the shot, the truck sped away, with tyres spinning," said Chief Phil Morris of Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.
The only description of the driver is that he was a large white male.
John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were arrested after the sniper shootings around Washington last October. They are being investigated in connection with 21 shootings - 14 of them fatal.
PA