APPOMATTOX: Police in central Virginia early today swarmed the woods and cornered a man who they said shot dead eight people and fired on a state police helicopter, rupturing its fuel tank.

Officers manned a road block along a pitch-dark, narrow, undivided country lane where police believed Christopher Speight, 39, was hiding. Yesterday, police found three bodies inside a home on the road, with four other victims lying just outside.

The drama began to unfold around noon yesterday when an eighth victim was spotted barely alive along the side of the road. A deputy who answered the emergency call heard more gunshots and soon the area just about 5 km from the state police district headquarters was filled with law enforcement from all over, with more than 100 responding. The injured man died on the way to the hospital, said state police Sgt Thomas Molnar.

Police with dogs and heat-sensing equipment from a National Guard helicopter planned to hunt through the night.

“They ... will continue until the suspect is apprehended,” Molnar said.

Earlier, as teams swarmed trying to catch the gunman, he fired at the helicopter trying to flush him out, police said. One or more rounds struck the helicopter, forcing it down, but no police were injured.

Police refused to speculate on a motive and would not say what type of weapon was used. Molnar also gave no background on the suspect, saying not much was known about him. Speight’s last known address was along the block lined with modest homes where the shootings occurred, but Molnar did not know if the suspect was still living there.

Appomattox is in a county of about 15,000 approximately 160 km southwest of the state capital of Richmond.