2 dead, 7 hurt in shooting rampage

SALLISAW, Okla. -- A teenager apparently upset by complaints about his driving shot four neighbors, including a 2-year-old girl, then went on a 20-mile shooting spree, apparently targeting people at random, police said. Two of the victims died.\nDaniel Fears, 18, was arrested after losing control of his pickup truck and crashing near a police roadblock, authorities said. As police cars surrounded him, he threw out a rifle and surrendered, said Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kym Koch.\nAuthorities hadn't determined a motive for the Saturday rampage, but police said they believed Fears became angry when a neighbor scolded him for driving recklessly in the middle-class neighborhood.\n"A man got onto him for driving erratically because he said he almost hit some kids," Koch said.\nSome people in Sallisaw wondered if Fears was mimicking the sniper attacks in the Washington area.\n"I think it's a copy cat thing," said Camellia Conley, an employee at a Sallisaw hotel. "He's been a rebel without a cause. He was always a loner, and always wore a black trench coat."\nKoch said such speculation was premature. "It's way too early to say it's a copycat," Koch said.\nFears was described as a polite student who worked part-time at a Wal-Mart store and lived with his mother in Sallisaw, a town of about 8,000 people near the Oklahoma-Arkansas state line.\nOn Saturday, after neighbor Greg Caughman complained to Fears about his driving, Fears broke into his father's house and stole a shotgun, Koch said.\nPolice say he then shot Caughman, who was in a nearby yard, hitting the man in the back and in the neck, and wounding his 2-year-old daughter, who was sitting in a truck nearby. Both were hospitalized.\nFears then shot two other neighbors, Patsy and Elvie Wells. Patsy Wells, hit in the face and leg, died. Her husband was hit in the chest and was hospitalized in fair condition Sunday.\nPolice said Fears then got into his pickup and headed east on U.S. 64, stopping at a car dealership and firing on a shopper.\nAuthorities on Sunday didn't know if Fears had any connection to the dealership or the victims.\nRonnie Boswell of Muskogee, owner of the dealership, said a woman was killed while shopping for a new truck for her son and a salesman was wounded.\nThe salesman, Jim Nunn of Muskogee, tried to get away, but the gunman "shot him in the chest and knocked him off the curb into the street and then shot him in the back," Boswell said.\nPolice said Fears continued firing as he drove down the highway, hitting a motorist and wounding two people who were shopping at a roadside statuary store.\nAfter he drove away, he shot into the car of another man, hitting him in the arm and chest, authorities said. A short time later, he shot a pedestrian walking with her children in the town of Muldrow, injuring the woman, authorities said.\nFears also shot at but did not hit a police officer from Muldrow, Koch said. He surrendered after flipping his truck into a ditch as authorities chased him, Koch said.