Six dead in US over breakfast argument in Kentucky

A US man has killed himself after shooting dead five people, including his wife and stepdaughter, during an argument about his breakfast.

Stanley Neace, 47, went on the rampage in a trailer park in Jackson, in rural Breathitt County, Kentucky.

He chased his wife into a neighbouring trailer where he shot her, her daughter and three witnesses, reports say.

Police say they are looking into why Neace flew into such a wild rage; there are reports he was facing eviction.

State troopers found him dead at the porch of his trailer, slumped over his own gun.

The shooting happened during an argument with his wife Sandra, 54, after she brought him some eggs for breakfast, a relative of the neighbours he killed said.

Mrs Neace's daughter Sandra Strong, 28, was also killed.

The other victims were named as neighbours Dennis Turner, 31, Teresa Fugate, 30, and Tammy Kilborn, 40.

Ms Fugate was shot in front of her seven-year-old daughter, whom Neace spared.

"Her daughter said, 'Please, please don't shoot me,' and he said, 'All right, you can leave,' and she ran out," Ms Fugate's sister Sherri Anne Robinson told the Associated Press.

Mrs Kilborn was another neighbour who stepped out on to her porch during the commotion, reports said.

Neace apparently waited an hour for the police to arrive before shooting himself; police heard the shot as they drove up to the trailer.

Other neighbours had fled in terror during the rampage.

Breathitt County is in Kentucky's rural eastern region, where gun ownership is widespread.

"Over eggs? I thought that was crazy. I mean just because his eggs weren't hot?" Ms Robinson said.

But Jackson police say there may be other factors that led to the shooting and they are still investigating.

The landlord of the Mount Carmel trailer park where Neace lived told reporters he had begun the process of evicting him because he had become hostile to neighbours in recent months.

"He was unpredictable, little things would set him off," Ray Rastegar told the Associated Press.

But County Sheriff Ray Clemons said he had known Neace for some years and he did not have a bad record.

"He was a little hot sometimes, but we never had any major problems. Nothing like this."