Hunter S Thompson kills himself

Hunter S Thompson, the chronicler of American counterculture and pioneer of "gonzo journalism", has killed himself at his home.

The author of the 1972 classic Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas - later filmed with Johnny Depp playing the role of Thompson - was 67. He shot himself in Colorado.

His son Juan, who found the body last night, said: " On 20 February, Dr Hunter S Thompson took his life with a gunshot to the head at his fortified compound in Woody Creek, Colorado. Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family."

Pitkin county sheriff Bob Braudis, a close personal friend of Thompson, said: "Details and interviews may be forthcoming when the family has had the time to recover from the trauma."

Thompson's unique brand of journalism, much of it published in Rolling Stone magazine, discarded traditional reporting rules in favour of a subjective, free-wheeling narrative in which the journalist himself was a crucial player.

His books include Hell's Angels, The Proud Highway and his latest, Hey Rube: Blood Sport, The Bush Doctrine, And The Downward Spiral Of Dumbness. He also wrote such collections as Generation Of Swine and Songs Of The Doomed. His first novel, The Rum Diary, which he wrote in 1959, was not published until 1998.

As well as his 1972 drug-hazed classic about a visit to Las Vegas, Thompson also wrote Fear And Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72. The central character in the sprawling satires was "Dr Thompson," a snarling, drug and alcohol-crazed observer and participant.

Alongside Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas was regarded as essential reading for anyone wanting to get to grips with the cultural revolution sweeping America during the late Sixties and early Seventies.

In a 2003 interview he said: "Fiction is based on reality unless you're a fairytale artist. You have to get your knowledge of life from somewhere. You have to know the material you're writing about before you alter it."

Thompson was a close observer of the decadence and depravity of American life. Of US rock and roll he said: "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench. A long plastic hallway where pimps and thieves run free and good men die like dogs. There is also a negative side."

At the height of the Watergate scandal he was described by President Nixon as representing "that dark, venal, and incurably violent side of the American character". In 2002 DJ Paul Oakenfold sampled a Thompson commentary on Nixon.

In 2000 Thompson accidentally shot and slightly wounded his assistant, Deborah Fuller, trying to chase a bear in Woody Creek. Thompson was born in Kentucky and the S stood for Stockton. He is survived by his wife Anita, Juan and grandson William.