Two shot to death, two others wounded in Missouri town

BUNKER, Mo. - A man who was apparently upset with city workers shot two people to death and wounded two others, including a city marshal, on Thursday morning, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.

Police were searching for a 49-year-old man with a high-powered rifle in the remote, heavily wooded area around Bunker, a town of about 50 people in south-central Missouri, patrol Capt. Chris Ricks said.

The assailant may have been upset with the city public works department, Ricks said.

Bunker city marshal Steve Stoops was struck in the forearm, and a bullet also grazed his neck. He was treated and released, a hospital admimistrator said.

The other person wounded was undergoing surgery.

The search area is part of Mark Twain National Forest, and Ricks said officers were having to climb hills just to get their cellular telephones to work.

''In an area like this, everybody knows everybody,'' Ricks said. ''There are no strangers - it's a very isolated community deep in the national forest. We got information on the suspect very quickly.''