A US Marine veteran dressed in black sprayed bullets inside a crowded dance bar popular with college students Wednesday night, killing at least 12 people, including a police officer, in Thousand Oaks city in California, in one of the “horrific” mass shooting incidents in the US.
The gunman, who also injured nearly two dozen others, was found dead inside the Borderline Bar and Grill on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean identified the gunman as 28-year-old Ian David Long, a US Marine Corps veteran, who used a .45 caliber Glock handgun during the shooting.
He said the motive of the shooter is still unclear. He was known to authorities for minor crimes.
The shooter was on active duty with the US Marine Corps from August 2008 to March 2013, according to Department of Defense records.
Twenty-one people wounded in the shooting were treated and released from area hospitals, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.
“Law Enforcement and First Responders, together with the FBI, are on scene. 13 people, at this time, have been reported dead. Likewise, the shooter is dead, along with the first police officer to enter the bar….
This is the second time this year Thousand Oaks has seen violence in a crowded area. In March, a man shot and killed his wife before attempting to shoot himself at the Thousand Oaks Mall, the paper added.
Last week, a gunman opened fire at a Jewish synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh, killing 11 people and injuring several others including three policemen, in the deadliest “anti-Semitic attack” in America in years.