Gunman
kills six in college rampage
A
gunman with an assault-style rifle killed at least six people in
Santa Monica before police shot him to death in a gunfight in the
Santa Monica College library, authorities said.
8
June, 2013
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, two more
people as he moved several blocks toward the campus, and then two
more on 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 sweatshirt, was seen being taken into custody by law enforcement
officers. He did not appear to be wounded.
"We
are not convinced 100 per cent that the suspect who was killed
operated in a solo or alone capacity," Seabrooks said.
All
of this unfolded about 5 kilometres from where President Barack Obama
was attending a fundraising luncheon.
Three
women with gunshot wounds were admitted to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical
Center, said Dr. Marshall Morgan, the chief of emergency medicine.
One died, another was in surgery, and the third was in serious
condition but doing well, he said.
Three
other women went to UCLA Medical Center Santa Monica with relatively
minor injuries, Morgan said. One has shrapnel-type injuries and the
two others had injuries not related to gunfire, he said.
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.
"I
can't believe she didn't have worse injuries," Cunningham said.
She
said the gunman then abducted the woman in the first car and drove
away.
From
there, the scene shifted to Santa Monica College, located in a
neighbourhood of strip malls and homes more than a mile inland from
the city's famous Santa Monica Pier, Third Street Promenade and its
expansive, sandy beaches.
Jimes
Gillespie, 20, told The Associated Press he was in the college's
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. He said the man was
carrying a shotgun.
Gillespie
believed there were two shooters because he heard two kinds of
gunfire - a shotgun and a handgun - but only saw one person.
"The
shotgun blast was first. It was either him or the partner who shot
eight to 10 handgun shots," Gillespie said. "Then after I
saw the gunman I heard more shots and I ran out of the library
through the emergency exit."
As
Gillespie 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.
Another
student, Khwanfa Wilepananon, said he and a friend were on the
library's third floor when they heard a loud bang and a woman's
scream coming from the first floor. As he and a friend fled
downstairs, he said they heard two shots.
"It
was so scary," said Wilepananon. "It was so dark and I was
scared. We didn't know what to do."
Santa
Monica police Sgt. Rudy Flores said numerous witnesses called to
report that the shooting near the college began with a man on a
street corner near the college firing shots at vehicles, including a
bus.
California
Highway Patrol Officer Vince Ramirez said his agency began receiving
911 calls just minutes before noon.
"We
understand one shooter was taken into custody shortly after we
arrived," he said.
The
two-year college, with about 34,000 students, was in the midst of
final exams Friday. It was quickly locked down by police, and
students were told to leave.
As
the drama unfolded, Obama was attending a fundraising luncheon about
3 miles away.
Secret
Service spokesman Max Milien said the agency was aware of the
shooting but it had no impact on the president's event.
On
the same day....
Counter
terrorism drill in the streets of Los Angeles
As
part of the 2013 National Homeland Security Conference, a team of
LAPD officers from the Counter Terrorism and Special Operations
Bureau demonstrated a "response to a weapons of mass destruction
device" in the streets of downtown Los Angeles.
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