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The gunman who entered a Southern California bar on Wednesday night and shot dead 12 people, including a sheriff's sergeant, before killing himself was identified as US veteran Ian David Long of the Marine Corps.
Sheriff Geoff Dean, of Ventura County, said Long, 28, was found dead at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks on Wednesday night. Dean said that we thought we were killed.
"We thought it was a joke": Witnesses tell the chaotic scene when an armed man opened fire:
An armed man opened fire around 23.20. PT at the overpopulated national and western bar about 65 kilometers northwest of Los Angeles, which scared hundreds of people, including people who used stools to break windows and escape. Police said that hundreds of people were inside at the time.
Dean said Long had first shot down a security guard and other staff near the door and then customers.
Among the dead was the sheriff's Sgt. Ron Helus, who was hit repeatedly while he was entering the building.
Today, we mourn the death of Sergeant Ron Helus, who gave his life in the service of the community. Please, keep his family and the families of the victims in your thoughts and prayers. pic.twitter.com/EwDsnPRDCs
Dean said Helus, a 29-year-old veteran of the force who was about to retire soon, died at the hospital early Thursday.
"It's a horrible scene out there," Dean said at a press conference Thursday morning. "There is blood everywhere."
Dean said that about 10 other people were injured and taken to local hospitals. Others had fled and had been taken to the hospital. People were hiding in the bathrooms and attic bar, and some escaped by breaking windows, Dean said.
The mayor of Thousand Oaks said that notifications of those killed and wounded were in preparation.
Mayor Andrew Fox said it was "a very difficult day for many people".
Jason Coffman told reporters that his son, Cody, was among those killed.
"I am speechless and heartbroken," he said.
The actor Tamera Mowry-Housley, known for the sitcom of the 1990s Sister sisterAnd her husband says that their niece, Alaina Housely, was 18 years old and was among those killed.
They say that their "hearts are broken" and that they are "devastated because his life was shortened in this way".
No other information on the victims was immediately known.
US President Donald Trump praised the police for his "great bravery" during the attack and ordered the flags to be half-masted at the White House and public buildings in the United States, as well as Diplomatic and military sites abroad until Saturday evening. honor the victims.
Elected Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, in his first public appearance since the victory of his post on Tuesday, lamented the violence that has occurred again in California.
"It's a gun culture, it's a culture, and it's not about being democratic or republican," he said. "You can not go to a bar or a nightclub – you can not go to the church or synagogue – it's crazy, that's the only way to describe it. .. it has become standardized. "
Gunman acted alone, police say
Dean said Long was acting alone, armed with a Glock 21 – a .45 caliber handgun designed to hold 10 cartons plus one in the chamber. But the sheriff said the gun had an extended magazine that is illegal in California.
Long joined the Marines in 2008. He served in the war in Afghanistan for seven months from the end of 2010, said the Marine Corps, and received multiple ribbons, praise and medals.
We did not know immediately what Long had done after leaving active service.
California State University of Northridge said in a statement that Long was a student who had attended university for the last time in 2016. This statement contained no other details.
Dean said his department had already had contact with Long, including a call to his home in April, when MPs found him angry and angry.
The sheriff said that a mental health crisis team had been called at that time and had concluded that Long did not need to be detained.
The other previous meetings were a traffic accident and an incident in which Long was the victim of an badault in a bar.
Madison Fuller, in central Thousand Oaks, Calif., Reacts as she watches a procession to find the Sgt's body. Ron Helus, who died during the Wednesday night mbad shooting. (Mike Blake / Reuters)
Dean said that there was nothing that led him to believe that terrorism was the motive, but that was not ruled out. Authorities hope to learn more about the execution of a search warrant at Long's home in the nearby Newbury Park community.
The gunman was tall and dressed in black, his head covered with a hood and his face partially covered, witnesses told the TV channel. He first fired at a person who was working at the door, then seemed to open fire at random on the people inside, they said.
People screamed and fled to every corner of the bar, while some people threw stools out the window and helped dozens of people escape, witnesses said.
Scenes of Thousand Oaks, where an armed man opened fire Wednesday night in a country and western bar:
Cole Knapp, a 19-year-old student, was in the bar when he saw the shooter come in and start firing.
"I was just with friends and I saw the shooter come in, and he approached the counter as if he was going to put a piece of ID or ID #####################################################> 39, money on the counter to pay for its coverage, "said Knapp, who lives nearby. "And I saw him somehow in the corner of my eye and I heard a shot, I focused on him and saw that he was holding a handgun and he continued to shoot the girl at the reception. "
Tayler Whitler, 19, said she was on the dance floor and that her friends were at a table near the door when the shooter opened fire. She said everyone shouted "Descends!" and he was silent for a few seconds, then she heard "Get up, he's coming!" and people were treading on their way out.
"It was really, really, really shocking," Whitler told KABC-TV as she stood alongside her father in the Borderline car park. "It looked like he knew what he was doing."
People are moving away from the scene of a deadly shootout in a western bar at Thousand Oaks. (Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
John Hedge stated that he and his father-in-law were in the bar when the shooter opened fire. Brooke Baldwin, of CNN, said it was like any other night, with the basketball game in the background, when he heard "pop, pop, pop" .
"You are doing just what you can to try … to escape from sight and to try to get away with it," he said.
The bar is a popular meeting place for students at nearby California Lutheran University. It is also close to several other universities, including California Channel University in Camarillo, Pepperdine University in Malibu, and Moorpark College in Moorpark. The bar's website says it's organizing "College Country Night" every Wednesday.
Cal Lutheran, with about 4,300 students, canceled clbades and posted on his website that the university community was invited to meet Thursday at the school chapel.
The sheriff's office announced that a procession would be held at 10 am to transport Helus by helicopter from Los Robles Hospital to the Ventura County Medical Examiner's office in Ventura.
Shooting of all kinds is rare in Thousand Oaks, a city of about 130,000 inhabitants. It was named the third safest city in the United States in 2018 by the Niche website.
"I learned that the community in which you belonged was of little importance," Dean told reporters on the question of whether he was surprised that this would happen in Thousand Oaks. "It does not matter how safe your community is, it can happen anywhere."
In this image extracted from a video, a victim of the shot is treated near the scene. (RMG News via AP)
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