THE GUNMAN, DRESSED all in black and carrying a semi-automatic rifle, killed his father, brother and two bystanders, before being killed by police gunfire in California yesterday.

The violence, which lasted just about 20 minutes, started about mile away when the gunman opened fire at a house where two bodies were found, police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said.

Two officials said 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.

As the house burst into flames, the man, wearing what appeared to be a ballistic jacket, carjacked a woman at gunpoint and directed her to drive to the college campus, having her stop so he could shoot along the way, police said.

He wounded one woman in a car who was in critical condition late Friday. He fired on a city bus where three women were left with minor injuries. One had shrapnel-type injuries and the two others had injuries not related to gunfire. They were treated at a hospital and released.

A weeping woman is comforted after being escorted off campus as police swarmed Santa Monica City College where a gunman shot numerous people on Friday. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Times, Robert Gauthier)

The gunman also fired on police cars, bystanders and pedestrians, police said.

From there, the chaos moved to Santa Monica College, a two-year college with about 34,000 students located among homes and strip malls more than a mile inland from the city’s famous pier, promenade and expansive beaches.

In a faculty parking lot on the edge of campus, he fired on two people in a red Ford Explorer that crashed through a block wall. The driver was killed, police said, and a passenger was in critical condition after undergoing surgery UCLA Medical Center, doctors said.

Nine crime scenes are under investigation by officers from 11 different law enforcement agencies, said Lewis, the police spokesman.

Police had said earlier that seven people were killed, including the gunman, but they revised the death toll to five at a news conference late Friday. Lewis said there were conflicting descriptions of some victims and they were counted twice.

Police detained a second man but released him and said he was not a suspect, expressing confidence the crisis had ended.

- AP

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