GAFFNEY, South Carolina — A man suspected of killing five people and terrorizing a South Carolina community was shot to death Monday by police investigating a burglary complaint at a home 50 kilometres away.

Ballistics tests on a gun and bullets found with the man in Gastonia, North Carolina, match those used in a weeklong killing spree in and around Gaffney, said State Law Enforcement Deputy Director Neil Dolan.

"We have him. He's our serial killer," Dolan said Monday night.

Authorities did not release the man's name, but said he has had several encounters with law enforcement over the years.

Dolan said the physical evidence leaves no doubt the slain suspect was the person who shot five people to death over six days. But investigators still have no idea why he started the killing spree June 27.

The case came to an end in Gastonia early Monday after a couple called police to report a suspicious sport utility vehicle in their neighbourhood.

The Gaffney killings happened in a 10-mile (16-kilometre) area over six days. A peach farmer was killed June 27, an 83-year-old woman and her daughter were found bound and shot four days later, and the next day a father and his teen daughter were shot in their family's furniture store.

SLED Chief Reggie Lloyd said the investigation isn't over, and Cherokee County Sheriff Bill Blanton said investigators will trace the suspect's recent activities and trying to figure out if he has killed other people in other places.