A man with a semi-automatic rifle killed at least four people and
wounded several others Friday as he carried out a deadly rampage across
several blocks of a normally idyllic beachfront city before police shot
him dead in the Santa Monica College Library.
Police said earlier that seven people were killed, including the gunman.
The violence began when the gunman, dressed in all black and wearing
what appeared to be a ballistic jacket, opened fire on a house where the
bodies of the gunman's father and brother were found, authorities said.
As the house burst into flames, the man wounded a woman in a car
before moving toward the campus, spraying bullets as he went. Police
said he opened fire on a city bus, a police car and other vehicles, as
well as bystanders and pedestrians.
He killed three people on the street before shooting at an SUV
leaving a campus parking lot. That vehicle's driver was killed and two
passengers were wounded as the car crashed through a block wall.
From there, the gunman entered the campus, shooting a woman as he
made his way toward the college's library, where students were studying
for final exams.
"It appears that those who were encountered on the street were random
victims," Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said.
"We saw a woman get shot in the head," said administrative assistant
Trena Johnson, who looked out the window of the dean's office, where she
works, when she heard gunfire. "I haven't been able to stop shaking,"
she said.
Inside the library, students reported hearing gunfire and screams.
"I was totally scared to death and I can't believe it happened so
fast," said Vincent Zhang, a 20-year-old economics major who said he
heard a woman pleading, "No, no. Please, no."
The gunman continued to shoot at people in the library, Seabrooks
said, but apparently didn't hit anybody there as dozens ran for the
exits.
"The officers came in and directly engaged the suspect and he was shot and killed on the scene," she said.
Just 3 miles away, President Barack Obama was attending a fundraising
luncheon. Secret Service spokesman Max Milien said the agency was aware
of the shooting, which began just before noon, but it had no impact on
the president's event.
The president was scheduled to take Marine One to the airport, but
traveled by motorcade to avoid any impact on the ongoing local response
to the shooting.
After the gunman was killed, police wearing helmets and armed with
shotguns and rifles searched the campus for a second shooter. A man
dressed entirely in black, the words "Life is a Gamble" on the back of
his sweatshirt, was seen being led away in handcuffs.
Sgt. Richard Lewis, a Santa Monica police spokesman, said at a news
conference Friday night that investigators had released a man who had
been detained and questioned as a "person of interest."
The identities of the man detained and those who were killed were not immediately released.
Two officials briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press
the two victims in the burned house were the gunman's father and
brother.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case.
Two women were admitted to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, 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 treated and released.
Jerry Cunningham Rathner, who lives near the house that caught fire,
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, pointed a
rifle at a woman in a car and told her to pull over, Cunningham 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 Rathner, 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 chaos shifted to Santa Monica College, located among
homes and strip malls more than a mile inland from the city's famous
Santa Monica Pier, Third Street Promenade and its expansive, sandy
beaches.
The two-year college, spread out across 38 acres, has about 34,000 students.
Jimes Gillespie, 20, told The Associated Press he was in the library
studying when he heard gunfire, and he and dozens of other students
began fleeing the three-story building.
"As I was running down the stairs I saw one of the gunmen," said
Gillespie, who described the shooter as a white man in his 20s, wearing
cornrows in his hair and black overalls.
As he ran across campus, he said he saw a car in front of the English
building that was riddled with bullet holes, had shattered windows and a
baby's car seat in the back.
Student Noke Taumalolo told Fox News that he saw a female worker
sorting recycling cans lying bloody on the ground with the gunman
standing over her. According to the student, the gunman was wearing
black tactical gear including a vest, SWAT-like fatigues and a riot
helmet.
In a staff parking lot, college employee Joe Orcutt said he saw the
gunman standing calmly with his weapon, looking as though he was trying
to determine which people to shoot at.
"I turn around and that's when he's just standing there, like he's
modeling for some ammo magazine," Orcutt said. "He was very calm just
standing there, panning around, seeing who he could shoot, one bullet at
a time, like target practice.
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