Gunman strikes rural Northern California

A gunman killed four people and wounded a number of others at random Tuesday at multiple locations in rural Northern California, including an elementary school, before police shot him dead, authorities said.

Two hospitals said they were treating seven people, including at least three children.

Details were still sketchy hours after the shooting and authorities didn’t have a firm count of the wounded due to the number of places where the gunman opened fire in the community of Rancho Tehama Reserve, about 130 miles north of Sacramento, Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said.

One student was wounded at the school and another child was shot while driving with a woman, who also was wounded, Johnston said. He declined to release the name of the shooter but said the gunfire began with a domestic violence incident that neighbours reported. Brian Flint told the Record Searchlight newspaper in the city of Redding that his neighbour, whom he knows only as Kevin, was the gunman and that his roommate was among the victims. He said the shooter also stole his truck.

“The crazy thing is that the neighbour has been shooting a lot of bullets lately, hundreds of rounds, large magazines,” Flint said.

“We made it aware that this guy is crazy and he’s been threatening us.”