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| Police officers stand next to a body near an entrance to Santa Monica College, Friday, June 7, 2013, in Santa Monica, Calif., following a shooting incident in the area. Two people were found dead in a burned home near the college, where someone sprayed a street corner with gunfire, authorities said. |
SANTA MONICA,
Calif. (AP) -- Authorities say a gunman carrying an assault-style
rifle killed at least six people in Santa Monica before police killed
him during a gunfight in the Santa Monica College library.
Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks told reporters Friday that the rampage began at a house in the coastal city.
She says it continued as the man, dressed all in black, made his way to Santa Monica College.
Seabrooks
says he killed two people in the house, two more people as he moved
several blocks toward the campus and then two more on campus.
She says he was then shot to death by police in the campus library.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
Two
people were found dead Friday in a burned home, apparent victims of a
shooting rampage that killed another person and injured at least five
others before the shooter was wounded at nearby Santa Monica College,
authorities said.
Police and witnesses said
the chaos began shortly before noon when a man dressed in black opened
fire on a house in this normally idyllic coastal community, then fired
on a car and wounded the driver before taking off in another car.
From
there, the chaos moved a few blocks away to Santa Monica College, where
witnesses reported vehicles on a street corner being sprayed with
gunfire.
Authorities believe at least one shooter, and possibly two, fled from there onto the campus.
What
appeared to be a body clad in black could be seen on a sidewalk near an
entrance to the school some three hours after the shootings. Police
have said a gunman was "down" but haven't confirmed a death.
Several students in the library reported hearing gunfire, and one witness said he heard a woman scream.
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.
All of this unfolded about 3 miles 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 the 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 military-style 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
neighborhood 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.
