13 dead in mass shooting at country music bar in US
THOUSAND OAKS: Using a smoke bomb and a handgun, a hooded former marine dressed all in black opened fire during college night at a country music bar in Southern California, killing 12 people and sending hundreds fleeing in panic before apparently taking his own life, authorities said on Thursday.
Authorities said the motive for the attack on Wednesday night was under investigation.
The killer was identified as Ian David Long, a 28-year-old veteran who authorities said had an episode of erratic behaviour last spring that was thought to be post-traumatic stress disorder because of his military background.
Patrons at the bar screamed in fear, shouted “Get down!” and used barstools to smash secondfloor windows and jump to safety as gunfire erupted at the Borderline Bar & Grill, a hangout popular with students from nearby California Lutheran University. The dead included 11 people inside the bar and a sheriff’s sergeant who was the first officer inside the door, Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean said.
“It’s a horrific scene in there,” Dean said in the parking lot. “There’s blood everywhere.”
The killer deployed a smoke device and used a .45-calibre handgun, a law enforcement official said. The official was not authorised to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
It was the deadliest mass shooting in the US since 17 students and teachers were killed at a Parkland, Florida, high school nine months ago. It also came less than two weeks after a gunman massacred 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. That, in turn, closely followed the series of pipe bombs mailed to critics of US President Donald Trump.
Trump praised police for their “great bravery” in the California attack and said, “God bless all of the victims and families of the victims.” He ordered flags flown at half-staff in honour of the victims.
Dean said his department had several previous contacts with Long, including a phone call to his home back in April, when deputies found him angry and acting irrationally because of what authorities said might have been PTSD.