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Terrified revelers used stools to break the windows on the second floor and get safe to escape the bar of the dance hall, where the shooter was found dead. Of the people killed Wednesday night in the shooting, 11 people were inside the bar and a sheriff's sergeant who was the first officer inside the door, said the Sheriff of Ventura County , Geoff Dean.
"It's a horrible scene out there," Dean said at a press conference on the Borderline Bar & Grill's parking lot. "There is blood everywhere."
A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that the authorities had identified the gunman. The official said the 29-year-old man had deployed a smoke device and had used a .45 caliber handgun to open fire. The agent was not allowed to publicly discuss the investigation and spoke only under the guise of anonymity.
This mbadacre is the deadliest shooting in the United States since 17 clbadmates and teachers were shot dead at a school in Parkland, Florida, nine months ago. This also took place less than two weeks after an armed man killed 11 people in a synagogue in Pittsburgh. This, in turn, closely followed the series of homemade bombs sent by mail to prominent Democrats, CNN and former officials who criticized President Donald Trump.
Trump said Thursday on Twitter that he had been "perfectly informed of the terrible shooting". He congratulated the forces of order by saying "great bravery on the part of the police" and said, "God bless all the victims and their families of the victims. & # 39; & # 39;
The shooter at the dance bar was tall and all black 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.
Many others were slightly injured, particularly as a result of their attempted escape, Dean said.
Sheriff's Sgt. Ron Helus and a pbading highway policeman were answering several calls to 911 when they arrived at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks around 11:20 pm, the sheriff said. They heard gunshots and entered.
Helus was immediately hit by several shots, Dean said. The highway policeman cleared the perimeter and took out Helus, then waited for a SWAT team and other police arrived. Helus died early Thursday in a hospital.
As they re-enter the bar, the shots stopped. They found 12 dead people inside, including the gunman. We do not know yet how the shooter died, Dean said.
The shooting took place on the night of university. Two-stage country dance lessons were offered Wednesday at the border, according to her website.
The bar, which includes a large dance hall with a stage and a billiard room as well as several smaller areas for eating and drinking, is a popular meeting place for students from nearby California Lutheran University enjoying music country. It is also close to several other universities, including California Channel University in Camarillo, Pepperdine University in Malibu and Moorpark College in Moorpark.
When the gunman came in, people screamed and fled across the bar, while a few people threw stools out the window and helped dozens of people escape, said witnesses.
The video of the scene being accessed by the Associated Press is punctuated by the loud sounds of several shots. A terrified witness is exhausted. Police cars arrive and an armed officer takes up positions outside the bar. Three men rush into carrying a fourth bloody individual. They try to contain the bleeding from what appears to be a gunshot wound.
Cole Knapp, a freshman at Moorpark College, said that he was inside the bar when the shooting started, but he initially thought that "I'm in trouble." it was just a person with an M-80, rather a joke.
Then he says he saw the gunman, dressed in a black cap and a black hooded sweater, and holding a small caliber handgun.
"I tried to gather as many people as possible," Knapp said. “ There was an exit right next to me, so I went there. This exit leads to a patio where people smoke. The people there did not really know what was going on. There is a fence there, so I said, "Everybody goes through the fence as quickly as possible, and I followed them."
He said that a traffic police officer was nearby and that he had just shot someone.
"I shouted to him," There is a shooter inside! He was a little incredulous, then saw that I was serious. & # 39; & # 39;
Knapp says he has friends who have not been found.
19-year-old Tayler Whitler said she was on the dance floor with her friends nearby when she saw the shooter firing and heard screams asking to "come down".
"It was really, really, really shocking," Whitler told KABC-TV while she stood alongside her father on the Borderline car park. "It looked like he knew what he was doing."
Sarah Rose DeSon told ABC's "Good Morning America" that she had seen the gunman unsheath his gun.
"I fell to the ground," she said. “ A friend shouted `Everyone on the ground! & # 39; We hid behind tables to try to protect ourselves. & # 39; & # 39;
Shootings of all kinds are very rare in Thousand Oaks, a city of about 130,000 residents located about 64 km west of Los Angeles, just across the county.
Helus had been working for 29 years with his wife and son. He plans to retire next year, said the sheriff, who has stifled his tears several times by talking about the sergeant, who was also his long-time friend.
"Ron was a dedicated sergeant, a sergeant, who was totally engaged," Dean said. "And tonight, as I told his wife, he died as a hero because he went to save lives.
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