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A man with a semi-automatic rifle killed at least four people and
wounded several others Friday as he carried out a deadly rampage across
several blocks of a normally idyllic beachfront city before police shot
him dead in the Santa Monica College Library.Police said earlier that seven people were killed, including the gunman.
The violence began when the gunman, dressed in all black and wearing what appeared to be a ballistic jacket, opened fire on a house where the bodies of the gunman's father and brother were found, authorities said.
As the house burst into flames, the man wounded a woman in a car before moving toward the campus, spraying bullets as he went. Police said he opened fire on a city bus, a police car and other vehicles, as well as bystanders and pedestrians.
He killed three people on the street before shooting at an SUV leaving a campus parking lot. That vehicle's driver was killed and two passengers were wounded as the car crashed through a block wall.
From there, the gunman entered the campus, shooting a woman as he made his way toward the college's library, where students were studying for final exams.
"It appears that those who were encountered on the street were random victims," Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said.
"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," she said.
Inside the library, students reported hearing gunfire and screams.
"I was totally scared to death and I can't believe it happened so fast," said Vincent Zhang, a 20-year-old economics major who said he heard a woman pleading, "No, no. Please, no."
The gunman continued to shoot at people in the library, Seabrooks said, but apparently didn't hit anybody there as dozens ran for the exits.
"The officers came in and directly engaged the suspect and he was shot and killed on the scene," she said.
Just 3 miles away, President Barack Obama was attending a fundraising luncheon. Secret Service spokesman Max Milien said the agency was aware of the shooting, which began just before noon, but it had no impact on the president's event.
The president was scheduled to take Marine One to the airport, but traveled by motorcade to avoid any impact on the ongoing local response to the shooting.
After the gunman was killed, police wearing helmets and armed with shotguns and rifles searched the campus for a second shooter. A man dressed entirely in black, the words "Life is a Gamble" on the back of his sweatshirt, was seen being led away in handcuffs.
Sgt. Richard Lewis, a Santa Monica police spokesman, said at a news conference Friday night that investigators had released a man who had been detained and questioned as a "person of interest."
The identities of the man detained and those who were killed were not immediately released.
Two officials briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press the two victims in the burned house were the gunman's father and brother.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case.
Two women were admitted to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, said Dr. Marshall Morgan, the chief of emergency medicine. One was listed in critical condition after undergoing surgery. The other arrived in serious condition but was upgraded to fair condition Friday night.
Three other women went to UCLA Medical Center Santa Monica with relatively minor injuries, Morgan said. One had shrapnel-type injuries and the two others had injuries not related to gunfire, he said. All were treated and released.
Jerry Cunningham Rathner, who lives near the house that caught fire, 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, pointed a rifle at a woman in a car and told her to pull over, Cunningham 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 Rathner, who went to the woman's aid and saw she was wounded in the shoulder.
She said the gunman then abducted the woman in the first car and drove away.
From there, the chaos shifted to Santa Monica College, located among homes and strip malls more than a mile inland from the city's famous Santa Monica Pier, Third Street Promenade and its expansive, sandy beaches.
The two-year college, spread out across 38 acres, has about 34,000 students.
Jimes Gillespie, 20, told The Associated Press he was in the 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.
As he 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.
Student Noke Taumalolo told Fox News that he saw a female worker sorting recycling cans lying bloody on the ground with the gunman standing over her. According to the student, the gunman was wearing black tactical gear including a vest, SWAT-like fatigues and a riot helmet.
In a staff parking lot, college employee Joe Orcutt said he saw the gunman standing calmly with his weapon, looking as though he was trying to determine which people to shoot at.
"I turn around and that's when he's just standing there, like he's modeling for some ammo magazine," Orcutt said. "He was very calm just standing there, panning around, seeing who he could shoot, one bullet at a time, like target practice.
Fox News' Dominic Di-Natale, Adam Housley, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/08/gunman-opens-fire-at-california-community-college-several-injured-police-say/#ixzz2Vb52bcN2
8/6/13
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ΗΠΑ: Τουλάχιστον 6 νεκροί, και 3 τραυματίες από πυρά στη Σάντα Μόνικα......
ReplyDeleteΤουλάχιστον έξι άνθρωποι σκοτώθηκαν από πυρά στη Σάντα Μόνικα κοντά στο Λος Άντζελες, κατά τη διάρκεια διαδοχικών πυροβολισμών οι οποίοι τερματίστηκαν με το θάνατο ενός υπόπτου ο οποίος σκοτώθηκε από τα πυρά των αστυνομικών στη βιβλιοθήκη της πανεπιστημιούπολης, ανακοίνωσαν οι αρχές.
«Προς το παρόν, υπάρχουν τουλάχιστον έξι νεκροί και δύο ή τρεις τραυματίες», δήλωσε η αρχηγός της αστυνομίας της Σάντα Μόνικα, Ζακλίν Σιμπρουκς προσθέτοντας ότι έχει συλληφθεί ένας ύποπτος. Η ίδια ανέφερε ότι ένα δεύτερο άτομο είναι υπό κράτηση σε σχέση με την ένοπλη βία, η οποία εκτυλίχθηκε λίγα χιλιόμετρα από το σημείο όπου ο πρόεδρος Μπαράκ Ομπάμα παρακολουθούσε μια φιλανθρωπική εκδήλωση συγκέντρωσης χρημάτων.
«Είμαστε ενήμεροι για το περιστατικό, αλλά δεν έχει καμία επίδραση στην επίσκεψη. Προς το παρόν, παραμένει αρμοδιότητα της τοπικής αστυνομίας», δήλωσε ο εκπρόσωπος της ασφάλειας του προέδρου, Έντγουιν Ντόνοβαν. Σύμφωνα με τις αρχές στο εσωτερικό ενός σπιτιού που πήρε φωτιά βρέθηκαν τουλάχιστον δυο πτώματα, αλλά δεν διευκρινίζεται αν οι νεκροί ή η φωτιά σχετίζονται με τους πυροβολισμούς.
Νωρίτερα, εκπρόσωπος της αστυνομίας που εποπτεύει τους αυτοκινητόδρομους είχε δηλώσει στο Ρόιτερς ότι οι αστυνομικοί είχαν λάβει αναφορά για ένα ένοπλο άντρα που έφερε "πολλά όπλα" και άνοιγε πυρ με στόχο κινούμενα οχήματα ιδιωτικής χρήσης, αλλά και δημόσιας χρήσης, όπως λεωφορεία. Αυτόπτες μάρτυρες σε ένα λεωφορείο ανέφεραν ότι ένας άντρας με βαρύ οπλισμό έβαλε κατά του οχήματος.
Πριν απο την αστυνομική επιβεβαίωση για τους έξι νεκρούς ιατρικές υπηρεσίες στο Λος Άντζελες είχαν αναφέρει το θάνατο τουλάχιστον μιας γυναίκας από τους πυροβολισμούς. «Τρεις γυναίκες εισήχθησαν στο νοσοκομείο», δήλωσε ένας γιατρός στο UCLA Medical Center,. «Δυο από αυτές ήταν σε κρίσιμη κατάσταση. Η μία κατέληξε και η άλλη είναι στο χειρουργείο σε κρίσιμη κατάσταση» είπε ο γιατρός . «Τρεις ακόμη τραυματίες μεταφέρθηκαν στο νοσοκομείο του UCLA στη Σάντα Μόνικα με ελαφρά τραύματα», δήλωσε ο ίδιος γιατρός σε εκπομπή του CNN.
e-typos.com
8/6/13
Santa Monica Police revise death toll in shooting rampage to 5 ....
ReplyDeleteThe gunman who went on a shooting rampage in Santa Monica, California, killed four people, police spokesman St. Richard Lewis said. Authorities said earlier that six had died, but revised the number to four. The gunman was also killed, bringing the total number of deaths to five.
The shooter began his rampage at a residence near the campus of Santa Monica College, opening fire in a house, where police later found two bodies.
He then shot at a passing car before carjacking another vehicle, Lewis said. He forced the driver, a woman, to drive onto the college campus.
There he shot two people in a passing vehicle. One died at the scene.
The gunman also fatally shot someone outside the campus library, where he engaged police in a gunfight, Lewis said. Officers fatally wounded him.
Voice of Russia, CNN
Read more: http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_06_08/Santa-Monica-Police-revise-death-toll-in-shooting-rampage-to-5-0993/
8/6/13
ΗΠΑ: Νέο μακελειό σε πανεπιστημιούπολη της Καλιφόρνιας (upd)
ReplyDeleteΝέο μακελειό σε πανεπιστημιούπολη των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών αυτή τη φορά στο κολέγιο Σάντα Μόνικα της Καλιφόρνιας. Εξι άτομα έχουν χάσει τη ζωή τους, μεταξύ των οποίων και ο φερόμενος δράστης. Άλλα έξι έχουν τραυματιστεί, τέσσερα εκ των οποίων σοβαρά......
Πηγή: http://www.skai.gr/news/world/article/234453/ipa-neo-makeleio-se-panepistimioupoli-tis-kalifornias/#ixzz2VavzdF9p
8/6/13
Police seek motive in California killing spree ....
ReplyDeleteLOS ANGELES - Police on Saturday were investigating what prompted a man dressed in black to embark on a string of shootings in the beach community of Santa Monica, killing four people before police gunned him down in a community college library.
Five other people were wounded in the shooting rampage, which unfolded just a few miles from where President Barack Obama was speaking at a political fundraiser elsewhere in Santa Monica, west of Los Angeles.
The bloodshed did not appear to be related to Obama's visit to Santa Monica and the Secret Service called it a "local police matter."
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Police-seek-motive-in-Southern-California-killing-spree-315837
8/6/13