Three Marines dead at US base shooting

WASHINGTON DC: A US Marine shot and killed two colleagues before apparently turning the gun on himself at a military base in Virginia, a Marine spokesman said.

The shooting happened Thursday night at the Quantico Marine base not far from Washington DC.

The suspected shooter and the victims were Marines who worked at an officer candidate school at the base, said base spokesman Sgt. Christopher Zahn.

The shooter and one of the victims were men and the other victim was a woman, Zahn said.

There was no immediate word on a motive, and no details of the shooting were given.

CBS News and other media reported the gunman killed a male Marine, barricaded himself inside a barracks and was found dead later of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A second body was found in the officer candidate school, these reports quoted another spokesman, First Lieutenant Augustin Solivan, as saying.

The base went into lockdown immediately after the shooting, but this has since been lifted.