8 dead in America’s 147th mass shooting this year
Gunman ‘mows down’ workers
AT least eight people have been killed and five wounded in another mass shooting in the US.
A “screaming” gunman went on a late-night rampage, mowing strangers down with an automatic weapon.
Witnesses saw a hooded man fire randomly with a .233 rifle at fleeing drivers after pulling up outside a FedEx warehouse around 11pm Thursday.
One victim reportedly died after he got a gun from his car boot and tried to take on the attacker. Five victims were taken to hospital while others were treated at the depot in Indianapolis.
The gunman, named in US media as 19-year-old Brandon Scott Hole, apparently shot himself dead as police arrived.
No motive has been established. It is the 147th US mass shooting this year.
Jeremiah Miller, who was about to start a shift, said: “I heard six shots, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang bang.
“I see a hooded figure… the man did have a submachine gun of some sort, an automatic rifle in his hand, and he started shouting and then he started firing at random directions.
“I saw a dead body, right behind a vehicle. It started off in the parking lot and went into the building and went back into the parking lot.” He said the man was screaming and “yelling stuff I couldn’t understand”, adding: “I ducked down to make sure he didn’t see me.
“My initial thought was don’t die and escape but when I saw people roll up for their shift I felt the need to warn them.”
Praminder Singh said his niece was shot in the arm through her car window in the parking lot. He added: “She’s fine, she’s in hospital .”
Indianapolis deputy police chief Craig McCartt believes the attack lasted only one to two minutes.
FedEx will now rethink making staff give up and lock phones at warehouses.
In mid-March, eight people were shot dead in three massage parlours in Atlanta, Georgia. Less than a week later a gunman killed 10 in Colorado.
At the end of March a gunman shot dead four people including a boy aged nine at a real estate office in California.
Last week a neighbour gunned down a doctor, his wife and their two grandchildren in South Carolina.
President Joe Biden has announced steps to tighten firearm laws.
The Gun Violence Archive said more than 19,000 died in US gun homicides last year. It was up 25% from 2019 and the highest in more than two decades.