Bonne Terre, MO: Gunman kills three in domestic dispute before shooting himself during a stand-off with police

A man shot and killed two women and another man today in eastern Missouri before turning the handgun on himself in what police said was a domestic dispute.

Bonne Terre Police Chief Douglas Calvert said the unnamed gunman shot Derek Nash, 32, when answered the door of his duplex-style home in Boulder Drive.

From there the 25-year-old shooter moved inside, finding Nash's girlfriend, 37-year-old Christine Snyder on the phone.

He shot and killed her before moving outside, where he found his estranged girlfriend, 19-year-old Danielle Bement in an SUV with a one year old child in the back seat.


Murder-suicide: A man shot and killed three people at an apartment complex in Bonne Terre, Missouri before turning the gun on himself
Bement, the daughter of the woman killed inside, was also shot, and died later at a local hospital.

Another toddler was found inside the apartment unharmed, the police chief said. Police responding to the scene found the gunman running away from the apartment.

Chief Calvert said: 'They advised him to drop the weapon. At that point, he took his own life.'

Bonne Terre is 60 miles south of St Louis, Missouri.


Victim: Investigators remove one of the bodies from the Bonne Terre duplex, where four people were killed in an apparent domestic argument
Police said they received a call about 10am this morning that a man was trying to kick down a door and a woman was screaming at the Boulder Creek Apartment complex.

After the shot, police said the shooter was challenged

The suicide happened 300 feet from the apartment near a highway.

'There does seem to be some relationship between the victims', Mr Calvert said. 'We do believe they did know each other.'

The four adults were described as being in their 20s.

St. Francois County Coroner Jim Coplin said that domestic violence is suspected because authorities had been called to the home in the last week or two.

The shooting happened at the apartment building which half a mile from two of the town's school.

They both were on lock-down for about an hour until authorities determined there was no threat to students.