(Image source from: CBS News)
Police have identified 28-year-old Ian David Long as the suspected gunman in a fatal shooting at a bar in southern California that left at least 12 people dead late on Wednesday.
Police said Long seemed to have shot indiscriminately into the crowd at the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, around 50km west of Los Angeles. The bar was holding a college country music night and was crowded with students and other patrons.
Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean said on Thursday that Long was armed with a Glock 21, a .45-caliber handgun designed to hold 10 rounds plus one in the chamber. But Dean said the gun had an extended magazine that is illegal in California.
The sheriff said Long is believed to have killed himself after opening fire on the crowd.
Among the dead is Sergeant Ron Helus, who was reportedly killed while trying to get into the club with Highway Patrol officers responding to the gunshot. The others killed have not been identified.
At least one person was being treated for a gunshot injury, while more than a dozen others endured minor injuries after jumping out of windows and diving under tables during the onslaught.
Dean said his department had several previous contacts with Long, a former United States Marine, including a call to his home in April, when deputies found him acting irate and irrationally.
The sheriff said a mental health crisis team was called at that time and concluded that Long did not need to be taken into custody.
Dean said the other prior encounters were a traffic accident and an incident when he was the victim of battery at a bar.
The shooting is the latest in a drawn-out list of mass shootings in the U.S.
Three of the fatal mass shootings in the U.S. modern history have taken place since October 2017.
Multiple Occurrences
In February, a gunman killed 17 people at a high school in Florida. In November 2017, a man got into a church in rural Texas and killed 26 people. And in October 2017, a man shot scores of people attending a country music concert in Las Vegas from the window of a hotel, killing 58 people and injuring over 500 others.
The series of shootings has triggered the debate over gun control, with young people taking the lead.
Earlier this year, hundreds of students, teachers and their supporters marched in large cities in the U.S. in opposition to gun violence and urged politicians to take additional action on gun control.
-Sowmya Sangam
