The Associated Press
Krysta Fauria
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.–Using a smoke bomb and a handgun, a hooded gunman dressed all in black opened fire during “college night” at a country music bar in southern California last night, killing 12 people and sending hundreds fleeing in terror, authorities said today.
The gunman then apparently killed himself.
Authorities said the motive for the attack was under investigation.
The killer was identified as Ian David Long, a 28-year-old former Marine.
Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean said his department had several previous contacts with Long, including a call to his home in April, when deputies found him angry and acting irrationally.
The sheriff said a mental health crisis team was called at the time and concluded Long did not need to be taken into custody.
Patrons at the bar screamed in fear, shouted “Get down,” and used barstools to smash second-floor windows and jump to safety as gunfire erupted at the Borderline Bar & Grill, a hangout popular with students from nearby California Lutheran University.
The dead included 11 people inside the bar and a sheriff’s sergeant who was the first officer inside the door, the sheriff said.
“It’s a horrific scene in there,” Dean said in the parking lot. “There’s blood everywhere.”
The killer deployed a smoke device and used a .45-calibre handgun, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
It was the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since 17 students and teachers were killed at a Parkland, Fla. high school nine months ago.
It also came less than two weeks after a gunman massacred 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
That, in turn, closely followed the series of pipe bombs mailed to critics of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump praised police for their “great bravery” in the California attack and said, “God bless all of the victims and families of the victims.”
The gunman was tall and wearing all black, with a hood and his face partly covered, witnesses told TV stations.
He first fired on a person working the door, then appeared to shoot at random at people inside, they said.
“I dropped to the floor,” Sarah Rose DeSon told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“A friend yelled, ‘Everybody down!’ We were hiding behind tables trying to keep ourselves covered.”
Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus and a passing highway patrolman arrived at the Borderline around 11:20 p.m. in response to several 9-1-1 calls, heard gunfire, and went inside, the sheriff said.
Helus immediately was hit with multiple gunshots, Dean said.
The highway patrolman pulled Helus out, then waited as a S.W.A.T. team and scores more officers arrived.
Helus died early today at a hospital.
By the time they entered the bar again, the gunfire had stopped, according to the sheriff. They found 12 people dead inside, including the gunman.
He apparently took his own life, the sheriff said.
“There’s no doubt that they saved lives by going in there and engaging with the suspect,” said Dean, who was set to retire tomorrow.
He praised the slain officer–a close friend–as a hero.
“He went in there to save people and paid the ultimate price,” Dean said.
Shootings of any kind are extremely rare in Thousand Oaks, a city of about 130,000 people about 65 km west of Los Angeles, just across the county line.
The Borderline, which includes a large dance hall, along with several smaller areas for eating and drinking, was holding its regular “College Country Nights” last night when the attack took place.
The bar also is close to several other universities, including California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo, Pepperdine University in Malibu, and Moorpark College in Moorpark.
Nick Steinwender, Cal Lutheran student body president, told KTLA-TV he immediately started receiving messages about the shooting, and he and his roommate went to the scene to offer rides back to campus or moral support.
“It’s going to be a very sombre day,” Steinwender said. “I know we don’t have all the details in yet but you know, it just feels like it’s an attack on our community.
“You know, I think it’s going to be something that we’re going to have to come together and move past,” he added.
