Slideshow: Upstate New York standoff

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Police officers walk down North Main Street away from the scene of a standoff with shooting suspect Kurt Myers on Wednesday in Herkimer, N.Y.

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An overnight police standoff in upstate New York ended Thursday after the man suspected of killing four people and injuring two more in a shooting spree was shot and killed by law enforcement officials.

The suspect, identified as area resident Kurt Myers, opened fire on a canine unit at about 8 a.m. this morning, New York State Trooper Jack Keller told NBC News, killing a dog. Police returned fire, killing the suspect and bringing an end to the nearly 19-hour confrontation.

“This morning, law enforcement officials entered the building and, after being fired upon, shot and killed the suspect, Kurt Myers,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement Thursday. “There were no injuries to local law enforcement officials, though an FBI police dog was fatally shot.”

Police deployed gas to try to flush the suspect out on Wednesday, New York State Police superintendent Joseph D’Amico said at a press conference after the standoff ended. Myers, who was in a small room, may have been able to shield himself from the gas, he said. Police maintained watch at the scene throughout the night, D’Amico said.

He declined to comment on other tactics.

Police had approached the situation with caution after Myers holed up in an abandoned bar in the town of Herkimer, N.Y., on Wednesday. Loud bangs and the wail of alarms were heard throughout the night in the town, local newspaper the Observer-Dispatch reported.

What police called the suspect’s “totally unprovoked” series of slayings in the quiet Mohawk Valley appears to have begun after Myers, 64, set his Mohawk, N.Y., house on fire on Wednesday, New York State Police said.

He then walked into John’s Barber Shop in the town and opened fire at about 9:30 a.m., killing two people and injuring two more, police said.

“Totally unprovoked, we believe he fired a number of rounds from the shotgun,” superintendent of New York State Police Joseph D’Amico told reporters at a Wednesday press conference.

The shooter at the barbershop on Wednesday seemed to be in no hurry, Nicole Dillon told local NBC affiliate WKTV.

“We saw a guy walking around the shop,” Dillon said of the killings she witnessed from a nearby sidewalk. “There were two shots fired. We watched him reload the gun. He was walking around. We watched him shoot the one guy, then he went into the shop and shot the other guy.”

Myers then went to Gaffey’s Fast Lube in Herkimer and allegedly shot and killed two more people. He is thought to have then driven to the abandoned bar that police surrounded on Wednesday, where Myers remained barricaded inside on Thursday morning.

A large police force quickly amassed around the former Glory Days bar in Herkimer on Wednesday. Police exchanged gunfire with the suspect when they first arrived at the scene on Wednesday, D’Amico said. No officers were injured, he said. Safety of residents and police were the first concern of authorities as they worked to bring the situation to an end.

“We’re concerned about officers’ safety, so we are in no rush to bring this to a conclusion,” D’Amico said at a press conference on Wednesday. He said that troopers had not had any communication with Myers.

The suspect was considered “armed and extremely dangerous,” Joseph Malone, the Herkimer and Mohawk police chief, told the Albany Times-Union, a local daily. The area around the standoff was evacuated as police hunkered down, and several area schools were closed as of Thursday morning.

A man who lives in an apartment overlooking the bar told the Associated Press that he had heard police trying to talk with Myers before the final shootout.

“The snipers on the roof are sitting there,” Myles Smith told the AP. “I ain’t seen a whole lot of movement. I heard about five gunshots. I keep hearing them trying to talk him out, but I don’t think he’s coming out.”

Police blasted loud horns at the scene around 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. in the morning with no apparent result, the Observer-Dispatch reported.

State police have identified the victims in Wednesday’s shooting spree. Harry Montgomery, 68, of Mohawk, and Michael Ransear, 57, of Herkimer, died in the barber shop. The car wash killings claimed the lives of Thomas Stefka, a man in his 60s who worked at the business. Also killed was Michael Renshaw, a 20-year veteran of the Departments of Corrections who was in his 40s, state police said.

Myers’ only previous known encounter with the law involved a 1973 arrest for driving while intoxicated. Bob Harrod, Myers’ landlord, told WKTV that he was a “quiet individual,” and “one of our best tenants.”

A number of guns and ammunition were found by authorities at the man’s residence, Cuomo said at a press conference on Wednesday.

“This is truly an inexplicable situation,” Cuomo said. “There was no apparent rational motive, to the best of our knowledge at this time, to provoke these attacks.”

NBC News’ Elizabeth Chuck, Andrew Rafferty, and John Newland contributed to this report.

Related:

• Tense standoff after 4 slain at car wash, barber shop
  

This story was originally published on Thu Mar 14, 2013 7:43 AM EDT

Police in upstate New York early Thursday remained in a tense standoff with a man suspected of killing four people and injuring two more, according to authorities.

New York State Police believe Kurt R. Myers, 64, is holed-up in an abandoned building in Herkimer, N.Y., after going on a shooting spree at a local car wash and barber shop.

The Utica, N.Y., Observer-Dispatch reported that loud bangs, alarms and a PA system were heard about 1:30 a.m. ET on Thursday at the site where Myers is believed to have barricaded himself.

The newspaper said a police robot had been sent into the building and that tactical units could been seen going in and out of the former bar. Floodlights remained pointed at the former bar, and police could be heard on a PA system asking for a peaceful surrender, the paper said. NBC News could not immediately confirm the report.

Troopers exchanged gunfire with the suspect when they first arrived at the scene of the now-abandoned sports bar, superintendent of New York State Police Jospeh D’Amico told reporters at a press conference Wednesday evening.

No officers were hurt, but police have so far had no success in communicating with Myers.

NY State Police

Police believe Kurt R. Myers, 64, shot four people on Wednesday.

Authorities believe that before his rampage, Myers set his residence on fire in Mohawk, N.Y., a small town between that lies roughly halfway between Syracuse and Albany.

From there, Myers is believed to have gone to John’s Barber Shop at about 9:30 a.m. ET, and shot four people, killing two of them, cops said.

"Totally unprovoked, we believe he fired a number of rounds from the shotgun," D'Amico said.

He then allegedly went to Gaffney’s Car Wash in the neighboring town of Herkimer and killed two more people before driving off to the abandoned bar where police believe he currently is in hiding.

“This is truly an inexplicable situation. There was no apparent rationale motive to the best of our knowledge at this time to provoke these attacks,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at the press conference.

State Police identified the victims who died in the barber shop shooting as Harry Montgomery, 68, of Mohawk, and Michael Ransear, 57, of Herkimer. Killed at the car wash were Thomas Stefka, an employee in his 60s, and Michael Renshaw, a man State Police said was in his 40s and is a 20-year-veteran of the Department of Corrections.

Myers only other known criminal history was a 1973 arrest for driving while intoxicated. A number of guns and ammunition were found in his residence, according to Cuomo.

The areas around the standoff have been evacuated, and D’Amico said police are prepared to be hunkered down for the long hall.

James Baron, Mohawk's 29-year-old mayor, said he doesn't know Myers but knew several of the people who were shot, including "at least" two of the barber shop victims.

The mayor described his town of 2,700 people as close-knit and friendly, "the kind of place where you'd say, 'Oh, it would never happen here.'"

Cuomo echoed those sentiments in front of reporters, noting, “This is just another example that there is no community that is beyond the scope of senseless gun violence, and unfortunately we see this more and more and more.”

Michele Mlinar, a bartender in Herkimer, told the Observer-Dispatch that Myers was a regular at The Cangees Bar and Grill where she works.

"When I saw his picture, I just got sick to my stomach,” she told the paper, adding that Myers was nice to staff but always “very jittery and nervous.”

“It could have been here. It could have been us,” she said. 

NBC News' John Newland contributed to this report.

AP Photo/Mike Groll

Law enforcement officers walk along Main Street in Herkimer, N.Y., while searching for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on Wednesday.

This story was originally published on Wed Mar 13, 2013 11:21 AM EDT