A GUNMAN who killed nine people over an eight-year period was shot dead by police in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality yesterday morning.

Zhou Kehua died in an alley in Tongjiaqiao Village in the city's Shapingba District at 6:50am, police said.

The news came four days after Chongqing launched an intensified manhunt for the 42-year-old man described as "ruthless and highly dangerous."

Last Friday, Zhou killed a woman and wounded two other people outside a bank in Shapingba.

Police officials said two plainclothes officers spotted Zhou on the street at 6:45am and started to follow him.

Zhou shot at them three times but died after being hit with four bullets.

Wang Xiaoyu, one of the officers who shot Zhou, said he was shot at first when Zhou realized he was being followed.

"He was less than three meters ahead of us," Wang recalled, saying Zhou's first shot missed him by about a centimeter.

Wang said he was injured in his right calf when a bullet bounced up from the ground.

Wang said both officers took cover as shots were being fired from both sides.

"The pistol he was using was an imitation Type 54 pistol, so it was less powerful than ours," he added.

Police found another pistol, three loaded bullet clips, more than 60 loose bullets and more than 10,000 yuan (about US$1,600) in cash in Zhou's knapsack at the scene.

One of the guns, a 9-milimeter, was linked to the killing of an army sentry in 2009 in Chongqing, police said.

On Monday, police in Chongqing and the neighboring provinces of Sichuan and Guizhou were told to cancel vacation plans and remain on high alert as the hunt for Zhou continued.

Deputy Minister of Public Security Zhang Xinfeng traveled to the city to supervise and lead the manhunt.

Chongqing public security authorities said Zhou's DNA, provided by police in Jiangsu Province, and his physical description, provided by police in Changsha, Hunan Province, laid a "solid foundation" for the operation.

Zhou had been found in the two provinces in the past, but escaped. Crime experts from Hunan and Jiangsu arrived in Chongqing to assist in the hunt.

Zhou was once reported to have fled to mountain areas in Chongqing but police said they found that he had been spotted in a downtown shopping center after Friday's shooting.

He did not escape into the Gele Mountain where he was believed to have been hiding. To confuse him, police and troops were still sent to the mountain in a large-scale manhunt while special squads were despatched to close in on him downtown, according to China Central Television.

Photographs released by Chongqing police after the operation showed Zhou lying in a pool of blood with at least one bullet hole in his head and a mobile phone, a pair of sunglasses and a small knapsack near his body.

Crowds of local residents gathered around to see the man who had once struck terror in their hearts.

They looked on as a police vehicle carrying Zhou's body left the scene.

The killer became notorious for robbing people withdrawing money from banks and repeatedly dodging police manhunts.

Officials said the "Class-A" suspect wanted by the Ministry of Public Security had shot nine people dead and injured four others over the past eight years. The final victim was a Chongqing police officer who was trying to stop and question Zhou after last Friday's bank shooting.

Before each crime, Zhou, who was divorced, would talk to his girlfriend and discuss his next steps, according to a China Central Television report.

Police had detained Zhou's girlfriend before they shot Zhou, and are now interrogating her about other cases that Zhou may have been involved in, CCTV said.

The bounty placed on Zhou's head hit 5.4 million yuan before his death.

A Chongqing resident was rewarded 600,000 yuan (US$94,357) for reporting a vital clue which led to the gunning down of the fugitive gunman.

The individual, whose identity has not been revealed, was given 500,000 yuan by Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau and 100,000 yuan by the Ministry of Public Security.

At the scene of Zhou's death, a local resident surnamed Wang, one of hundreds of people standing outside the cordoned-off area, said he felt greatly relieved by the news.

"We heard that the suspect was in Shapingba, which disturbed us very much," he said. "His death is a great relief."

Stories of how the life of a "smart rural kid who liked reading detective stories" ended with him as an armed robber and killer spread widely across the Internet.

Chongqing native

Zhou Kehua was born in Chongqing Municipality on February 6, 1970.

An introverted child, he loved detective stories and didn't play with other children.

In 1985, at the age of 15, Zhou was detained for 14 days for sexual harassment.

He left his hometown to work as a migrant laborer from 1985 to 1993 and later was employed as a porter at a railway station in Chongqing from 1995 to 2000.

Criminal road

Chongqing 2004-2005, 5 victims

April 22, 2004: Two hotel staff who had just withdrawn 70,000 yuan were shot outside an Industrial and Commercial Bank of China branch in Chongqing. One of the victims died.

May 16, 2005: A driver and an accountant were shot dead after they withdrew 170,000 yuan from a bank. Zhou fled with their bag. A passerby was injured.

Changsha - 2009-2011, 4 victims

October 14, 2009: A man died after he was shot six times in a park in suburban Changsha in Hunan Province.

December 4, 2009: A man leaving a bank was shot in the head.

October 25, 2010: A laptop owner was shot dead and his computer stolen.

June 28, 2011: A man was injured as he was shot near a construction site.

Nanjing - January, 1 victim

January 6, 2012: A construction worker was shot after he had withdrawn 200,000 yuan from a China Construction Bank.

Chongqing - August, 4 victims

August 10, 2012: One woman died and two other people were wounded outside a Bank of China branch. The suspect escaped with 250,000 yuan in cash. Later he shot dead a railway police officer who tried to question him.