Associated Press/Damian Dovarganes - A firefighter walks past a car with bullet holes across a home that caught fire in Santa Monica, Calif. Friday, June 7, 2013. Two people were found dead Friday in a burned
The gunman, dressed all in black and carrying a semi-automatic rifle, walked calmly through the Santa Monica College campus after killing his father, brother at their home and another man near the school, authorities said. He would kill a woman outside the library moments later, before dying from police gunfire.
Trena Johnson, a longtime
administrative assistant working in the dean's office, heard gunfire and
looked out the window around noon Friday. Students were jumping out of
windows of nearby buildings to get away. A man in black with a "very
large gun" shot a woman in the head outside the library.
The violence, which lasted little more than 10 minutes, started about a mile away when the gunman began shooting at a house, and it caught on fire. Two bodies were later found inside, police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said.
Two officials told The Associated Press that the killings began as a domestic violence incident and the victims in the home were the gunman's father and brother. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case.
The gunman also fired on police cars, bystanders and pedestrians, police said.
College employee Joe Orcutt was in the lot and said the gunman looked calm and composed as he fired at him. Orcutt jumped out of the way.
"He's just standing there, like he's modeling for some ammo magazine," Orcutt said, "seeing who he could shoot, one bullet at a time, like target practice."
I wonder how many chances there were that an armed good citizen could have stopped this much sooner. Of course, this being California, those chances are far lower, since celebrities don't mix in public unless they're promoting something.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar comment brewing. Santa Monica Promenade? Maybe we could have actually had a celebrity with a gun there to stop it.
DeleteGreg, apparently you know nothing about LA. Many celebrities live in Santa Monica.
DeleteBut, you were probably only interested in pushing one of your favorite distortions, that only celebs can have carry permits in CA. TS was right there with ya.
Mikeb, how about you look at the facts about licenses issued in the Los Angeles area. Now if this had started up in Humboldt County or the like, my fellow country folk would have put a stop to it in short order.
DeleteThat's nonsense, Greg. Tucson AZ has more carry guns than the places you named and those guys were unable to stop Loughner.
DeletePerhaps it does, though the one person that we know of who was carrying in the area wasn't close enough. The point is that more good citizens with guns would reduce the success of wackos like this.
DeleteThis seems to be a good example of the new "active shooter" response tactic the police now use. Where they actively hunt down the shooter. This tactic was developed after the shooting at Columbine where the old tactis was found sadly wanting.
ReplyDelete