Bakersfield Shootings – Gunman Kills Five, Then Himself
A shooting spree that many have been rooted in a domestic situation began at a trucking company in Bakersfield, California. A man and his wife confronted a male at the company. The husband took out a gun and shot the man, then turned the gun on his wife and killed her. Another person arrived, and the man chased him and shot him as well. That was only the beginning.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the incident began at around 5:20 p.m. local time on Wednesday when police were called to reports of a shooting at a trucking business in Bakersfield. When they arrived, one man and one woman were dead in the building, another was dead a short distance away.
The suspect fled the scene and ran to a nearby home where he shot and killed the two people who lived there.
He then hijacked a vehicle that had a woman and child in it. They were both able to escape without injury.
He drove the car to a highway, where he saw a deputy and pulled over. When the deputy confronted him, the man shot himself in the chest. He died at the hospital.
Police are interviewing 30 witnesses, and processing multiple crime scenes.
What drove the husband to kill so many people is unclear at this time. Police believe it is likely a domestic situation, and not a random act of violence. All of the separate shootings occurred within a span of 15 minutes, according to Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood at a press conference.
Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood told reporters the shootings were not random.https://t.co/h918YLye4n #Bakersfieldshooting
— KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO (@KNX1070) September 13, 2018
Sheriff Youngblood called the incident “the new normal.”
Two of the victims were identified by family members as Laura Garcia and her father Eliseo.
BREAKING: Family identifies two of the victim’s in yesterday’s mass shooting in #Bakersfield as Laura Garcia and her father Eliseo, known lovingly as Cheo.
Both murdered in their Breckenridge Rd home.
More on senseless shooting that left 5 dead coming up live on @GDLA @FOXLA pic.twitter.com/vlUWjtDrXL— Gigi Graciette (@GigiGraciette) September 13, 2018
Featured photo: screenshot via Twitter
Too bad nobody had a gun to defend themselves.