Police said Christopher Speight, 39, had fled to the woods, violently resisting efforts to take him in and nearly shooting down a police helicopter as it hovered over the area trying to flush him out.
State police said officers had Speight surrounded near a home in Appomattox where seven of the bodies were found.
An eighth victim was found barely alive on the side of the road – which led to police being called – but died on the way to the hospital.
All the victims were adults and both men and women were killed, Virginia State Police sergeant Thomas Molnar said. Three of the bodies were found inside the home, and four just outside.
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