Sept. 13 (UPI) — Five people were shot dead by a gunman in Southern California late Wednesday in an attack that police say began as a domestic disturbance.
Authorities said the violence started at a trucking business near Bakersfield, where the shooter confronted a man and killed him. He then shot his wife and another man — before he ventured into a nearby neighborhood and shot a married couple. All five died.
Investigators said he next stole a vehicle with a woman and child inside, but they were not harmed.
Police said a sheriff’s deputy spotted the car a short time later on a nearby highway. When the suspect was pulled over and confronted, he fatally shot himself in the chest.
“It’s very unusual to have six people killed in one incident,” Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood told reporters on the scene. “This is the new normal.”
Detectives are trying to determine the connections between all the victims and the shooter. Officials said they will interview about 30 witnesses.
Police got the first call about the shooting at the trucking business at 5:19 p.m. There was another call 15 minutes later from the neighborhood where the married couple were killed.
All the shootings occurred in unincorporated Bakersfield so they were handled by the Kern County Sheriff’s Office. Bakersfield is about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Investigators said they will also look at body camera footage from the deputy who confronted the shooter.
