Three people killed in Missouri monastery shooting

A gunman shot dead two Benedictine monks before killing himself at a Catholic monastery in rural Missouri yesterday. At least two other monks were injured.

A gunman shot dead two Benedictine monks before killing himself at a Catholic monastery in rural Missouri yesterday. At least two other monks were injured.

The dead monks were found in a hallway inside the monastery of Conception Abbey, about 70 miles north of Kansas City.

The suspected killer's body was found in the chapel of the abbey's campus which includes a seminary with about 97 students, a printing press and accommodation for 19 priests, eight monks, a nun and several teachers.

Alongside the dead man, identified only as a 71-year-old from the nearby town of Kearney, lay an AK-47 automatic rifle and a sawn-off shotgun, police said. His motives are unknown.

A worker in the printing house said there was an order to evacuate the campus at about 9am.

Ronda Strueby said: "One of the monks, Brother Jeremiah, said there's a man in the monastery with a gun, and we need everyone to evacuate. We were told to go home."

After the shooting police found monks cowering in cupboards where they had locked themselves when they heard the shots ring out.

No link had been drawn last night between the shootings and the paedophilia scandal that has shocked the church in America.

A conference of Catholic bishops is due to discuss the issue this week in Dallas, Texas. Since April, two priests have died in suicides connected to the scandal. On 4 April, the Rev Don Rooney, 48, of the Cleveland diocese, shot himself after being accused of molesting a girl.

On 16 May, the Rev Alfred J Bietighofer, 64, was found hanged at a Maryland psychiatric hospital less than three weeks after resigning from his parish in Bridgeport, Connecticut.