Gunman kills 4 in California

Associated Press

SANTA MONICA, Calif.

A gunman with an assault-style rifle killed four people in Santa Monica on Friday before police shot him to death in a gunfight in the Santa Monica College library, authorities said.

Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks told reporters the rampage began at a house in the coastal city before the gunman, dressed all in black, made his way to Santa Monica College.

Seabrooks said he killed two people in the house, which caught fire, and then he moved toward the campus.

He entered the library and fired on other people but didn’t hit them, Seabrooks said.

Several students in the library reported hearing gunfire, and one witness said he heard a woman scream.

“The officers came in and directly engaged the suspect, and he was shot and killed on the scene,” Seabrooks said.

She identified the gunman as 25 to 30 years old and dressed all in black, wearing what appeared to be a ballistic jacket.

The campus was searched for a second shooter, and a man dressed entirely in black, with the words “Life is a Gamble” on the back of his sweat shirt, was seen being taken into custody by law- enforcement officers. He did not appear to be wounded.

“We are not convinced 100 percent that the suspect who was killed operated in a solo or alone capacity,” Seabrooks said.

All of this unfolded about three miles from where President Barack Obama was attending a fundraising luncheon.

Five of the gunman’s victims died immediately. The sixth died at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where she had been admitted in critical condition.

Two other women also were admitted to the hospital, said Dr. Marshall Morgan, the chief of emergency medicine. One was listed in critical condition after undergoing surgery. The other arrived in serious condition but was upgraded to fair condition Friday night.

Three other women went to UCLA Medical Center Santa Monica with relatively minor injuries, Morgan said. One had shrapnel-type injuries and the two others had injuries not related to gunfire, he said. All were released.

Jeff Furrows of the Santa Monica Fire Department said there was extensive fire damage inside the home where two bodies were found, and one of the wounded women was found with a gunshot wound in a car nearby.

Jerry Cunningham Rathner, who lives near the house, said she heard gunshots and came out onto her porch to see a man shooting at the residence. Soon, the building erupted in flames and was billowing smoke.

The gunman, dressed in black and wearing an ammunition belt, went to the corner and pointed a rifle at a woman in a car and told her to pull over, Rathner said.

He then signaled to a second car, also driven by a woman, to slow down and began firing into the vehicle.

“He fired three to four shots into the car — boom, boom, boom, right at her,” said Cunningham, who went to the woman’s aid and saw she was wounded in the shoulder.

She said the gunman then abducted the woman in the first car and drove away.

From there, the scene shifted to Santa Monica College.