Shootout Sends Shoppers Fleeing

A sniper holed up in an abandoned, burning restaurant sprayed a busy shopping area with gunfire Friday, killing one person and wounding four others before perishing in the flames, police said.

More than 100 shots were fired from the shuttered Po’ Folks Restaurant during the hourlong siege that forced motorists to crouch behind their cars and sent shoppers into nearby businesses for refuge.

At least four people were shot, one fatally, police said. The person who was killed wasn’t immediately identified. Several other people suffered cuts from flying glass. Police said the unidentified gunman died in the fire.

Pamela Berry, a police reporter for The Clarion-Ledger newspaper, was in stable condition after undergoing surgery for a gunshot wound to the neck.