SAMSON (AFP) - A US gunman mowed down at least 10 people, including his grandparents and other relatives, leaving a trail of bloodshed in southern Alabama before killing himself. Michael McLendon, 27, left a trail of dead and wounded across two rural counties and three towns during Tuesday's bloody shooting spree before turning his gun on himself after being cornered by police in a factory where he had worked. Authorities said they were still trying to unravel the drama and McLendon's motives, but the carnage apparently began in the small town of Kinston, where McLendon set fire to his mother's house, leaving her dead. McLendon then drove to the nearby town of Samson, where he shot his grandparents, an aunt and an uncle as they sat on the porch of their home, Samson mayor Clay King said. He then killed the wife and one-year-old child of a local sheriff's deputy who lived across the street. Another young child was hospitalized with gunshot injuries. Sheriff Greg Ward told reporters the deputy had taken part in a shootout with the killer minutes later, not knowing that his wife and child had died. Police said the shooter then moved on to other Samsom homes and killed at least one more person in his deadly rampage. "It is believed the gunman left that location, travelling on Alabama route 52 where he shot at a state trooper's vehicle, striking the vehicle seven times," said a statement released by the Alabama Public Safety Department. The gunman stopped on the road at a local company, Samson Pipe and Supply, where he shot dead one person, then killed another victim at a service station. Media reports said both were random targets.