Shooting in Wisconsin spa leaves 3 dead, 4 injured

An armed man wearing body armour burst into a beauty spa where his estranged wife worked in the US state of Wisconsin and opened indiscriminate fire, killing three women on spot and wounding four others.

The man, who was later found dead clutching a .38 caliber handgun and a bullet in his head, was identified as 45-year-old African-American Radcliffe F Haughton whose wife worked at the spa in a Milwaukee suburb shopping centre.

All three of those killed were women, Brookfield Police Chief Dan Tushaus said. The area near the spa in Brookfield was locked down after the incident yesterday.

The victims' ages and identities were not immediately provided. It was also not clear whether Haughton's wife was among those killed.

The incident was the second mass shooting in Wisconsin within three months. In August, six people were killed after a white supremacist opened fire at a Sikh Gurudwara.

Tushaus said the first officers on the scene found the building full of smoke from a fire believed to have been set by Haughton, who had been accused of slashing his wife's tyres two weeks before the shooting. A restraining order was placed against him and he was directed to surrender his firearms over a suspected domestic abuse case involving his wife.

President Barack Obama, who was informed about the incident, was told by his top national security officials that it was not an act of terrorism, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.

"The President was told there was an active shooter in Brookfield, Wisconsin. He was informed that the shooting did not appear to be terrorism-related," he said in a statement.

Obama was also briefed by FBI Director Bob Mueller, his Chief of Staff Jack Lew and Advisor for Homeland Security John Brennan. The FBI is at the site and is supporting the Brookfield, Wisconsin police department while they respond to the ongoing situation, Carney said.

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