Twelve people were shot dead and about a dozen others were injured after a gunman dressed in black used smoke bombs and shot into a Southern California bar popular with college students. A sheriff’s deputy is among those killed. The gunman is dead.
“The massacre occurred at the Borderline Bar & Grill, with the assailant firing wildly into the crowd,” the LA Times reports. The shooting began at about 11:20 PM local time Wednesday at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks.
Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Ron Helus who was to retire next year,, was shot and died at a hospital.
One witness told CNN the gunman wore a “black mask” which may have been a bandana.
“It’s a horrific incident,” Sheriff Geoff Dean told reporters. “This community in my 41 years had never experienced anything like this.”
“It’s a horrific scene in there,” Sheriff Dean added. “There’s blood everywhere.”
One patron who ran toward the exit when the shooting began is 19 years old. Erika Sigman told reporters the bar “is a safe place. My parents let me go here. This is a trusted place. … To know that this happened in my safe place is a very, very scary thing.”