Police said Carey Hal Dyess also wounded one person in the shootings around Yuma, a city of about 200,000, before he was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound nearly six hours after the first shots were fired.
The lawyer was killed while packing up his office on his last day of work.
"These victims were targeted," Yuma Police Chief Jerry Geier said.
Yuma County Sheriff Ralph Ogden said the first shooting was reported early Thursday in Wellton, about 25 miles east of Yuma. The woman was in critical condition at a Phoenix hospital.
He said Dyess then fatally shot four people around town before driving to Yuma and killing prominent attorney Jerrold Shelley, 62, about four hours later.
Police believe Dyess then drove back toward Wellton, pulled over and fatally shot himself. His body was found inside the vehicle. Neither police nor the sheriff would identify the other four dead.
Shelley represented Dyess' former wife in their 2006 divorce, which was Dyess' fifth. Court records show the previous four divorces were in Washington state.
Vida Florez, a Yuma attorney who knew Shelley, reported hearing from a witness who spoke to the police about what happened inside the office.
"They said the shooter came in and told the secretary to 'Get out of here,' " Florez said. "She did, and he shot Jerry Shelley and he left."
Shelley also was one of the lawyers representing seven young men — three sets of brothers — who sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson after accusing a priest of repeatedly raping them when they were children.
The downtown shooting prompted officials to temporarily block off a street and to lock down the nearby county courthouse and some schools.
Yuma attorney Amanda Taylor described Shelley as a good man who was dedicated to his Mormon beliefs. She said Shelley's wife also worked in the office, and that they have two grown children.
She said Shelley was wrapping up a long career. "He was retiring. He literally was packing up his office today," Taylor said.
"He was an excellent family man. Well-respected in this community. Very kind. I'm just sick. I've lost such a good friend."
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