Four people, including a child, were killed Wednesday night by a man who opened fire at an office building in the city of Orange in California, south of Los Angeles, police said.
The shooting comes after two recent killings that killed 18 people in March in the United States and reignited the debate on the proliferation of firearms in the country.
The shooter, whose motives remain unknown at this stage, was himself shot during the intervention of the police and taken to hospital, said police lieutenant Jennifer Amat.
She added that he was in critical condition.
Police are trying to find out if he was injured in an exchange of gunfire with police or if he self-inflicted the injury, she said.
⚡️ “4 killed, including child, in mass shooting at California office complex” by @latimes https://t.co/261zxHUhAS
- Los Angeles Times (@latimes) April 1, 2021
Police did not release details of the victims of the tragedy, but added that a fifth person, a woman, had been hospitalized and was also in critical condition.
She assured that the incident was closed and that there was no longer any "threat" against the population.
"We are wholeheartedly with the affected families"
The shooting was reported around 5:30 p.m. local time on the top floor of a small office building.
The block of buildings houses a consulting firm, an insurance company, a financial consulting firm and a phone repair shop, according to local media.
According to the Los Angeles Times, police officers who attended the scene were shot and returned fire.
A man, who asked not to be identified, told local channel KTLA5 that the situation was "terrifying".
Another, Cody Lev, told local media that he heard three explosions, followed by silence, then alarm sirens.
"We have not had such an incident in Orange since 1997," said Jennifer Amata, referring to a shooting that had killed four people.
“It is such a tragedy for the victims, their families, our community and the police department,” she added.
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“Horrible and heartbreaking.
We are wholeheartedly with the families affected by this terrible tragedy last night, ”California Governor Gavin Newsom tweeted.
"I am deeply saddened by information about a mass shooting in Orange County, and I am in thought with the victims and their relatives (...)", for her part tweeted the representative of California Katie Porter.
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On March 22, a gunman killed ten people at a supermarket in Boulder, Colo., Less than a week after a man shot eight people at Asian massage parlors in Atlanta, Georgia.
