The body of a man believed to be the suspect in a shooting incident at Santa Monica College lies on the sidewalk in Santa Monica, Calfornia June 7, 2013. Police report the gunman killed at least six people before he was shot to death. REUTERS/Daniel Kraft
Yahoo News reports
A gunman killed at least six people in Santa Monica, California, on Friday before he was shot dead by police at a library of a community college, Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said.
Seabrooks said a second individual she described as a "person of interest" had been taken into custody in connection with the violence, which unfolded a few miles from where President Barack Obama was attending a political fundraiser.
Authorities also found two people dead at the scene of a nearby house fire, but police said it was not immediately clear whether the fire and the shooting incident were related.
Earlier, a spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol had told Reuters that officers had received a report of a man armed with multiple weapons, including a shotgun, firing at passing cars and a bus at two locations near the college campus just west of Los Angeles.
Students at the campus library described a scene of pandemonium as the sounds of gunfire rang out, sending students scurrying for cover.
One student inside the library, Cyrus Jabari, 19, said he could see through a window a man dressed in black with a buzz-style haircut carrying what appeared to be an assault rifle.