PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Three are dead and one man was taken to the hospital after a shooting Sunday in a gated community 15 minutes west of Perryville.

About 11 a.m. Sunday, the Perry County Sheriff's office responded to a 911 call to a home on Port Perry Drive in the Lake Perry neighborhood, a gated community near Silver Lake, Mo.

After an investigation, the Sheriff's office reported that Jerry Moore, 68, of Perryville, had shot three people: his wife Diane Moore, 55, Allen Kennon, 46, both of Perryville, and Dennis Stanfill, 54, of Barnhardt, Mo., and then turned the gun on himself.

"It's a terrible situation," said Roger Prost, an alderman in Perryville. He said the last homicide in town was years ago, and he couldn't remember a violent crime occurring in the Moores' upscale neighborhood.

"Nothing like that has ever happened out there as far as I'm aware," he said.

Moore, his wife and Stanfill were pronounced dead and Kennon was injured and taken to a St. Louis hospital. Dennis Stanfill's wife, Terry Stanfill, 56, was also present, but not injured, according to a news release.

Witnesses questioned by the Sheriff's office indicated the couple had been fighting. The Sheriff's office reported that Diane Moore had returned to the home she shared with Jerry Moore, with the other three people, apparently to retrieve her belongings.

"Jerry Moore objected to these persons being there and to his wife leaving," the release said.

He shot Stanfill and Kennon with a revolver at the back door of the house and then shot at Terry Stanfill, but only grazed her hooded sweat shirt.

Jerry Moore then saw his wife and shot her before he shot himself, the Sheriff's office said.

The killing comes less than two weeks after a murder-suicide in Jackson where Mir Shahin Moshiri, 36, shot his wife, Katherine Moshiri, their two young children and his stepson, then turned the gun on himself.

Mir Shahin and 4-year-old Madison Moshiri died Dec. 3. His stepson, 16-year-old Michael Jeffers, died Dec. 4. Katherine Moshiri was shot four times, but ran from the house to get help and survived. Their 2-year-old daughter, Meghan Moshiri, also survived.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

charris@semissourian.com

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