Twelve people have been killed in southern California after a gunman opened fire in a crowded bar.
Officials identified the gunman as former US marine Ian David Long, 28. Long was found dead inside the bar, the Ventura county sheriff Geoff Dean said. Authorities believe he shot and killed himself.
A sheriff’s deputy, Sergeant Ron Helus, was among the victims, the Ventura county sheriff’s department said. As many as 16 people were injured.
Hundreds of people were at the Borderline Bar and Grill, in Thousand Oaks, near Los Angeles, on Wednesday night when the shooter entered and opened fire. Witnesses reported using barstools to break windows in a desperate attempt to escape. Sheriff Dean described a traumatic scene.
“It’s a horrific scene in there,” Dean said. “There’s blood everywhere.”
Dean said a mental health crisis team had been called to Long’s home in April after he was found to be acting “irate” and “a little irrationally”. He was not taken into custody at that time.
Dean said Long used a legally purchased .45 caliber Glock during the shooting. Long was a veteran who had served in the United States Marine Corps from 2008 to 2013.
Donald Trump tweeted that he had been “fully briefed” on the shooting, and praised the “great bravery shown by police”. The Thousand Oaks shooting comes 11 days after after 11 people were shot and killed at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.
Long, wearing a black sweatshirt, shot a security guard who was standing outside the Borderline before entering and shooting several other employees of the bar, Dean said.
He said Long had no connection to the Borderline bar, and authorities had been unable to find a motive. Long was “the victim of a battery” at a different bar in Thousand Oaks in January 2015, Dean said. Long also had two minor traffic citations in recent years.
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