A serial killer who terrorised a town in South Carolina has been shot and killed by officers, US police say.

Patrick Tracy Burris, 41, was killed when officers investigating an attempted burglary tried to arrest him.

Bullets in his gun reportedly matched those used in the murders, which saw five residents of the town of Gaffney shot and killed within a few days.

Police said Burris had a long criminal record and had been released on parole in April after serving eight years.

"Look at this," State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) Chief Reggie Lloyd told a news conference, waving a copy of Burris's criminal record.

"This is like 25 pages. At some point the criminal justice system is going to need to explain why this suspect was out on the street."

Previous charges filed against Burris included larceny, forgery and breaking and entering in several states in the south-eastern US.

I despise the fact that this common criminal killed all those people but lets face it the man did do his time. Some people seem to believe that when a man or woman commits a crime that they are never suppose to leave the jail. That is a nice concept in never never land but in real life that's not how it goes.

Unfortunately I feel for the community they were not aware of the beast in side of this sicko. So now is it the the new thing to do, by convicting all carear criminals to life in prison because they were lost? Maybe we could rewrite the constitution to violate rights of all citizens we don't like? If that seems far fetched to you then how does a correctional facility owe anyone an explanation of releasing a man who completed his time?