EDEN, Texas - Officials say a Marine suspected in a string of West Texas shootings that left one person dead and five wounded was sought for questioning in a North Carolina homicide.
Master Sgt. Jonathan Cress at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base, N.C., said Monday that the Marine was wanted for questioning in a homicide in nearby Jacksonville, N.C.
The Texas Department of Public Safety identified the man as 23-year-old Esteban J. Smith of the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base.
In a statement Monday, DPS spokesman Tom Vinger says Smith later died in a gunfight with an agency trooper and a state game warden. Authorities say the Texas shootings seemed to be random.
One of the people injured was a sheriff who is hospitalized with non-life threatening wounds.