Two killed in California distribution centre shooting

A man drove into a Northern California distribution centre and started shooting at people, killing an employee and wounding four others before he was killed by police, authorities said.

The shooting by a 31-year-old man with a semi-automatic rifle started about 3.30pm at the Walmart distribution centre south of Red Bluff, a city of about 14,000 people about 210km north of Sacramento, California.

Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said the shooter circled the parking lot four times before crashing into the building and opening fire with the rifle. Red Bluff Police officers shot and killed the suspect, KHSL-TV reported.

The employee who died was Martin Haro-Lozano, 45, of Orland, California, Johnston said.

Officials did not identify the shooter, but Johnston said he has a history with the Red Bluff workplace.

The shooting victims were taken to St Elizabeth Community Hospital in Red Bluff, spokesperson Allison Hendrickson said.

Some of the 200 workers inside the facility locked themselves in a room , employees told KHSL-TV.

The suspect was shot in the chest about 3.45 pm, dispatchers told the newspaper.

Scott Thammakhanty, a staff at the facility’s receiving centre, told the Redding Record-Searchlight that he heard the shooter fire from the rifle.

“It went on and on – I don’t even know how many times he fired,” Thammakhanty said.

“I just know it was a lot.” Fellow employee Franklin Lister told the New York Times he had just started work when a co-worker ran down the hallway shouting: “Active gunfire! Active shooter!”

Vince Krick told the RecordSearchlight that his wife and son work at the facility and he was on his way to pick up his wife when he saw the flames. Neither was hurt, but his wife told him not to come to the front entrance, the newspaper reported.