GAFFNEY — Authorities have identified a man killed by North Carolina police as the killer they think shot five people to death over six days last week in this mostly rural Cherokee County community.

Law enforcement officials identified the suspect Monday night as 41-year-old Patrick Tracy Burris. They said he was a felon with a lengthy record who was paroled in April after serving more than eight years for felony breaking and entering and larceny. Authorities said bullets in the gun found on Burris after he was killed by police early Monday near Gastonia, N.C., matched those used to kill residents in and around Gaffney, some 40 miles away.

Johnny Mullinax of Charlotte, N.C., and other patrons at Daddy Joe's BBQ & Grill watch the bar television for the local news at 5 p.m. Law enforcement officials enter the scene of shooting in Dallas, N.C., on Monday, where authorities Monday evening confirmed the shooting was linked to the slayings last week near Gaffney.

Investigators did not have an address for Burris. While evidence left no doubt he was the killer, they still had no idea why he did it.

"He was unpredictable. He was scary. He was weird," said Neil Dolan, deputy director of the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division.Police for several days had blanketed Gaffney and surrounding Cherokee County, fearful the killer would strike again.

"We were of the belief he was not going to stop until he was caught," said SLED Chief Reggie Lloyd.Burris was caught when, in the early morning hours Monday, N.C. police shot and killed the man who matched the description of the suspected serial killer. South Carolina authorities were on the scene quickly to determine whether the man was the same person.

A Ford sport utility vehicle similar to the one police think the serial killer might have been driving was at the scene of the N.C. shooting. And police said ballistic tests done at SLED headquarters in Columbia showed the man's gun matched the weapon used in the killings. Authorities said they found some items related to the Gaffney killings in the SUV, but they declined to be specific or to release the caliber of the pistol.

Burris originally was from Maryland, authorities said. He had a lengthy record across the Southeast — in Florida, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, officials said, and was wanted on a North Carolina parole violation. All, or almost all, of Burris' North Carolina convictions — some violent, some not — were in Rockingham County, north of Greensboro. Police were still sorting through details late Monday.

Lloyd said he wants to find out what Burris had been doing since he got out of prison in April. Cherokee County Sheriff Bill Blanton said investigators would trace Burris' recent activities to see if he had killed elsewhere.

"We feel the victims' pain," Blanton said. "This isn't over. We're just changing gears."

For days, fear had stalked Gaffney, a town of about 13,000.More than 100 people attended the news conference authorities held just after 8:30 p.m. Monday at the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department to announce the news of the suspect's death. Sandy Rhinehart, 42, brought her three daughters.

"We just want to make sure he's gone," Rhinehart said.In 1968, a 14-year-old girl who was Rhinehart's aunt, was killed by the Gaffney Strangler, who stalked lone women and then strangled them. Rhinehart said she was probably the only person in Cherokee County who didn't have a gun. Even though the suspect had been caught and killed, she said she was going to buy a gun today.

CORNERING A SUSPECT

In North Carolina, SLED towed a Ford Explorer from an abandoned Gaston County home at about 6:30 p.m. to search it for evidence. Police had believed the killer drove an Explorer.

Just after 2:30 a.m. Monday, a man on Dallas Spencer Mountain Road northeast of Gastonia called local police after he saw a Ford Explorer pull into the driveway across the street from his house. The man, Mike Valentine, saw the SUV and was concerned the vehicle might be connected to the killer. Gastonia is about 40 miles north of Gaffney — just off Interstate 85 — and Valentine knew what kind of vehicle police were searching for.

Three police officers arrived and found three people in the older-model Ford Explorer outside the home. Two were identified by Charlotte's NewsChannel 36 as Mark Stamey, 35, and his sister, Sharon Stamey, 31. The Stameys told the officers they had lived in the house.Valentine said the Stameys got out of the car, along with a second man.

"He was a large man," Valentine said. "He was stumbling around like he was really drunk."

Valentine said the Stameys told the police it was their house, and they had come to collect some things. Valentine said he walked across the street and told the police officer there was no electricity at the house and questioned why the three were there. The Stameys and the man went into the house, Valentine said, and the police followed. Police said they had asked the three people in the Ford Explorer for identification, and one of them gave false identification initially.

Gaston County police said they eventually got the third person's correct name, and when they ran a check, discovered he was wanted by authorities in a neighboring county. When they tried to take him into custody, police said, the man now believed to be Burris fired, hitting officer J.K. Shaw in the leg. Police said they fired back, killing the man.

The officer was treated at Gaston Memorial Hospital and released.On Tuesday, authorities said the Stameys didn't know about the killing spree and had met Burris at a hotel about two weeks ago. Police described the siblings as transients who had a drug and criminal past. The Stameys were not charged and police were not sure of their whereabouts since questioning them after the shooting in Gastonia.

"They were not actively living there," Ramey said. "There's no power. Sometimes they squat there — sneak in and stay at night."Police said they think Burris acted alone in committing the Gaffney crimes.