Police officer fatally shot at Missouri food market

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A police officer responding to a bad check complaint at a food market has been shot and killed near St. Louis.

North County Police Cooperative Chief John Buchannan says officer Michael Langsdorf responded to a call Sunday afternoon about a bad check at a food market in Wellston, about 9 miles northwest of St. Louis.

He says that about five minutes after arriving, police received a call that the officer was down. He was later pronounced dead.

Langsdorf had been working for the North County Police Cooperative for about three months. He had previously worked for the St. Louis Police Department.

Buchannan says a suspect is in custody but gave no further details.

The North County Police Cooperative serves seven communities in the northern St. Louis county.

California golf course dispute sparks shooting, fire; 5 dead

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) — A third body has been found in the rubble of a burned-out mobile home in California, bringing to five the number of dead in a shooting and fire that began during an argument at a golf course, authorities said.

Santa Maria police identified Kurt Bracke, 70, and Richard Hanen, 78, as the victims who were fatally shot.

Residents told The Santa Maria Times there had been a long-standing feud between the two men and the shooter that boiled over Friday at the golf course of the Casa Grande Mobile Estates in Santa Maria, a coastal city about 140 miles northwest of Los Angeles. The shooter has not been identified.

“These three guys were threatening each other for a long time,” Keith Castro said.

Responding to a report of shots fired at the mobile home park on Friday morning, police found one man fatally shot inside the Casa Grande clubhouse and another dead on the grass nearby, the newspaper reported.

The gunman is believed to have fled to his mobile home, which then went up in flames after a small explosion. The blaze spread to nearby mobile homes before it could be put out by firefighters, where ammunition was exploding from the gunman’s mobile home.

“All throughout the firefighting efforts, ammunition was cooking off,” Police Chief Phil Hansen said.

Authorities initially found two bodies– one of which is believed to be the gunman’s– in the rubble, but said Saturday an additional victim had been located. Their names will be released after the coroner’s office confirms their identities.

Santa Maria police declined to release any additional information and Casa Grande Mobile Estates declined to comment on Sunday.