Within three minutes after he shot two Floyd County, Ind., sheriff's deputies with his father's vintage military rifle, 15-year-old Tyler Dumstorf posted a final message on his MySpace Web site.

"I just killed two cops. Goodbye."

Hours later, around midnight, police found the teen's body in a second-floor bedroom, the rifle by his side, authorities said yesterday.

Tyler had shot himself with the same .30-caliber M1 Garand rifle that he had used to kill Deputy Frank Denzinger and seriously wound Deputy Joel White as they responded to an argument Monday between the boy and his mother, Gail Dumstorf, Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson said at a news conference.

"The officers were sitting ducks," standing just 30 yards from the upstairs window from which the teen shot them, Henderson said.

White fired several shots at the house from his sidearm as he fought to sit upright in the driveway beside his car after being wounded, but the teen wasn't hit, police said.

Denzinger died at University Hospital in Louisville, shot through the back. White, also shot in the back, was in serious condition yesterday, Floyd County Sheriff Darrell Mills said.

Both deputies were wearing vests that protected them only from shots fired in the front.

Tyler's mother and an aunt, who were outside showing the officers marijuana that the mother had found in her Georgetown home, weren't injured, authorities said yesterday. The aunt was there to support Tyler's mother.

Tyler had been scheduled to face a misdemeanor marijuana charge yesterday in Floyd County Circuit Court.

Deputies had been called to the Dumstorf residence at 6004 Rachel Court at least a half-dozen times in recent months to intervene in disturbances involving Tyler and his mother, as well as other family members, said Frank Loop, a lieutenant and former chief of the Floyd County Sheriff's Department.

But no violence was involved in the earlier incidents, Loop said.

Shari Fox, Tyler's aunt who lives in Louisville, said yesterday that she feels bad for the families of all who were involved.

"This is a horrible tragedy," Fox said. "We are very sorry for the loss of the families."

While her family is deeply mourning the loss of Tyler, they "also feel horrible for the families of the officers," Fox said.

"It's going to be a very long and hard road ahead," she said. "We are all in a stupor right now. I'm just trying to keep my family halfway together."

Yesterday, the neighborhood of mostly ranch-style homes with neatly trimmed lawns was quiet as residents absorbed the tragedy.

"It was kind of shocking," Wendy Reisert said at her parents' home across the street from the shootings.

After the shootings, 25 households from Rachel Court and neighboring streets were evacuated. Reisert said residents were allowed to return about 2 a.m. yesterday.

The Dumstorf house was empty yesterday. Several holes were visible in each of its second-floor windows facing Rachel Court. A ground-floor window and a sliding glass door opening on the home's rear deck also were broken.

Indiana State Police spokesman Jerry Goodin said state police had fired tear-gas canisters into the house during Monday evening's standoff. He said to his knowledge, no other shots were fired at the house other than by White.

Goodin estimated that nearly 100 officers from departments in Floyd and surrounding counties responded to White's call for help about 6:30 p.m. Monday as he lay wounded.

After fellow officers removed their two wounded colleagues from the driveway, a line of officers set up a perimeter around the house, Goodin said.

A stream of police cars drove up Corydon Ridge Road through the night as police surrounded the home and searched the wooded area around it. Police helicopters also flew over the neighborhood, and residents returning to their homes were turned back at Yenowine Lane, about a half-mile from the scene, to wait in the nearby Georgetown Fire Station.

Police said the teen's body was found about midnight by a robot brought in from the Lexington-Fayette County Police Department.

At yesterday's news conference, Henderson said Tyler's father, James Dumstorf, owned the weapon and had shot it with him at a firing range.

"It's mostly a showpiece," Henderson said.

He also said there was no warning of the violence.

"There was nothing to indicate it was anything other than a routine response" to a call about a family argument, he said.

Tyler previously had only minor run-ins with police, Henderson said, including the misdemeanor marijuana charge.

Tyler had just completed his freshman year at Floyd Central High School.

On his MySpace site, he wrote "I love music" and "My favorite is Lynyrd Skynyrd." He also mentioned The Doors, Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Steppenwolf and Bob Dylan.

While the standoff was still going on Monday night, friends of Tyler posted messages of support for him on the site.

One said, "I love you, man."

"I will continue to pray for you. We all loved you and God can save anyone," another wrote.

Henderson urged parents to be aware of what their children might post on such Internet sites as MySpace and to take steps to prevent violent incidents.

He said the shooting investigation is continuing to determine if there is any "criminal liability," or if there was anything the community could have done to prevent the tragedy.

Henderson said Tyler's father and another man were arrested near the home Monday night after the shootings for public intoxication. The arrests weren't related to the shootings, he said.

The Dumstorf family was involved in a shooting 32 years ago, according to Courier-Journal stories and a member of the family.

Tyler's uncle on his father's side, William Edward Dumstorf Jr., was accused at age 19 of gunning down his father and another person in July 1975 on Hoskins Beach Road in Harrods Creek, Ky.

Tyler's grandfather and William's namesake, William Edward Dumstorf Sr., 48, was found dead along with a 26-year-old Louisville woman, Melissa Jane Milner. Edward Jr. was initially charged with two counts of murder but pleaded guilty in December 1976 to first-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to two 15-year prison terms to be served concurrently.