Belfast Police Officer Kills 3, Self

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — A police officer distraught over a comrade’s death killed three people and wounded two with a shotgun Tuesday at the offices of the Sinn Fein political party, which is the legal arm of the outlawed Irish Republican Army, police officials said.

Constable James Allen Moore, 24, of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, later apparently committed suicide.

Police said that Moore’s colleague had been killed in a domestic shooting and not in a terrorist incident.

Moore had telephoned police from a north Belfast pub to claim responsibility for the three slayings, a statement said.

His body was found three hours later near his car by the shore of Lough Neagh about 20 miles west of Belfast, a shotgun was by his side. Moore was described as an anti-terrorist officer who won a commendation for bravery.