THE MAN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SHOOTING SPREE IN ODESSA, TEX., WAS A 36-YEAR-OLD AREA RESIDENT WITH A CRIMINAL RECORD, THE POLICE SAID

A postal van behind the Cinergy Odessa entertainment complex in Odessa, Tex., where the suspect was confronted by the police and was killed. Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The New York Times

By Lucinda Holt and Manny Fernandez

ODESSA, Tex. — The 36-year-old man who terrorized two West Texas towns with an assault-style rifle Saturday had been fired from his trucking job a few hours before he led the authorities on a chaotic high-speed chase that ended with his death and the deaths of seven others.

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