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Governor Newsom on Tuesday in Half Moon Bay, California
Photo:
SAMANTHA LAUREY / AFP
After two bloody crimes in California that killed 18 people within a few days, the governor of the US west coast state has called for stricter gun laws.
"What the hell is going on here?" asked Gavin Newsom on Tuesday (local time) in Half Moon Bay, Northern California, with a view to gun violence in the United States.
That would only happen in America, the country with the highest number of gun owners and gun deaths, the Democrat said.
On Monday, a 66-year-old gunman
killed seven people and critically injured another in
Half Moon Bay , a rural community south of San Francisco.
The shots were fired in two farms.
Police described the killing as an act of violence at work.
The victims are farm workers of Asian and Hispanic origin.
The alleged perpetrator was arrested.
He was employed in one of the companies.
On Saturday, a man
opened fire in a dance hall in
Monterey Park , southern California, during a Chinese New Year celebration.
Ten people died at the scene, and another victim succumbed to his injuries in hospital on Monday.
The alleged perpetrator, a 72-year-old man, shot himself after the crime, according to the police.
US Vice President Kamala Harris planned to travel to her home state on Wednesday and visit the affected community in Monterey Park.
This was announced by her office on Tuesday evening (local time).
After the attack in Half Moon Bay, US President Joe Biden spoke of a “senseless act of armed violence”.
"The scourge of gun violence across America" calls for stricter gun laws, the Democratic president wrote.
Newsom has long advocated tougher gun laws.
California leads the way compared to other US states, but that's not enough.
Conservative judges would relax tougher laws, Newsom complained.
The nation must act united.
Gun violence and deadly attacks of this magnitude are sadly normal in the United States.
Meanwhile, two people were killed in a shooting at a center for youth in the state of Iowa in the American Midwest.
Police say the victims were 16 and 18 years old.
The alleged perpetrator is an 18-year-old.
A man shot and killed three people at a gas station in Washington State on Tuesday night.
As the broadcaster CNN reported, the alleged perpetrator was later caught.
aar/dpa
