SANTA MONICA, Calif. — A man with a semi-automatic rifle killed four people and wounded five others Friday 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.
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.
we will never know what ignited his fire, but i'm sure it would be on the list of already determined causes of death and mayhem by gun.
this type of thing i don't know if we will ever be able to stop but i do think we can put a cap of sorts on it by passing legislation that will help prevent the next and future killers from obtaining a gun of mass destruction.
“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.”The gunman fired on people in the library, Seabrooks said, but apparently didn’t hit anybody there as dozens ran for the exits.“I was totally scared to death and I can’t believe it happened so fast,” said Vincent Zhang, a 20-year-old economics major.Officers entered the library and shot and killed the gunman moments later, Seabrooks said.
moments sometimes are too litile too late, the reasons again most we will never know for sure, authorities will piece together from witnesses and associates a profile but how accurate are these things when not taken from the perpetrator or his writngs or recordings?
