California man kills 4 before police shoot him dead

PanARMENIAN.Net - A man with a semi-automatic rifle killed four people and injured five others Friday, June 8 as he carried out a deadly rampage across several blocks of a normally idyllic beachfront city. Police shot him dead in the Santa Monica College Library, Associated Press reported.

The violence began when the gunman, acting alone despite early reports of a possible second shooter, opened fire on a house where two bodies were found, police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said.

Two officials said the killings began as a domestic violence incident and the victims in the home were the gunman's father and brother. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case.

Only about 20 minutes passed between the first reports of trouble and the gunman's death, but it led to hours of fear and confusion in the balmy coastal city.

As the house burst into flames, the man, dressed all in black and wearing what appeared to be a ballistic jacket, carjacked a woman at gunpoint and directed her to drive to the college campus, having her stop so he could shoot along the way, police said.

He wounded one woman in a car, left three more women with minor injuries after firing on a city bus, and also fired on police cars, bystanders and pedestrians, police said.

In a faculty parking lot on the edge of campus, he fired on two people in a red Ford Explorer that crashed through a block wall. The driver was killed and a passenger critically wounded, police said.