BBC News Online: World: Americas

US guard goes on killing spree

Sacramento is still mourning six victims of a knifeman

Joseph Ferguson, 20, shot and killed at least two former colleagues as he stalked the city with weapons thought to include handguns, an AK-47 rifle and a shotgun, said officers.

The killing spree began after Ferguson, who was suspended last week from his job with Burns Security, made a series of threatening phone calls on Saturday night.

At about 2320 local time police found two female Burns guards dead in a city equipment yard.

Shotgun found

Shortly afterwards they found two men, also believed to be Burns guards, at the Miller Park Marina about 10 miles north.

Ferguson, of Sacramento, California, fled in a former colleague's car that he stole after handcuffing her at Sacramento Zoo, said police.

Police found an AK-47 rifle, a shotgun and 9mm rounds near the victims.

It is the second multiple killing in the city in three weeks - on 20 August Nikolay Soltys, 27, allegedly slashed his pregnant wife's throat, then killed his aunt and uncle and their two 9-year-old grandchildren in Sacramento.

Authorities say he fled with his son, who was found dead in a cardboard box a day later.

He was later caught and charged with murder.