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Mayor of Illinois town says five dead in shooting, suspect in custody

Manchester, a small Illinois town north of St. Louis, is rocked by multiple fatalities and one injury as the result of a shooting there, according to the town's mayor.

  • By Reuters

| Chicago

Five people are dead and one injured as a result of a shooting in the tiny southern Illinois town of Manchester, the mayor confirmed in a television interview on Wednesday.

"We got five confirmed fatalities, one wounded and in the hospital, and the shooter's been apprehended," Mayor Ronald Drake said in an interview on the St. Louis Fox television station.

Drake could provide no names or other details about the victims. He said his pager went off at about 4:45 a.m. local time this morning, alerting him to an emergency with "multiple victims."

He said such violence was unusual in the town of about 300 people. Last year, Manchester, which is about 85 miles north of St. Louis, was troubled only by bank robbers.

Larry Balthis, pastor of the Manchester Baptist Church, said he knew the people involved in the shooting but would not comment further before police gave more information.

"It's been a very tragic scene," said Balthis.

In response to the report, Jacksonville School District 117 is closed for the day, according to Debbie McKean, secretary to Superintendent Steve Ptacek. The school district covers 222 square miles and includes the area where the suspect was reportedly apprehended, according to McKean.

The Scott County Sheriff's Department referred all questions to the Illinois State Police. A state police spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment.

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