Police identify a former Marine as a gunman who killed 12 in a California bar shooting

THOUSAND OAKS, California: A gunman, now identified as 28-year-old veteran Ian David Long, 12, killed a police officer, when he opened fire in a country music bar full of college students in California, officials and witnesses said Thursday.

Police said the gunman was found dead inside the bar on the outskirts of Los Angeles although it was not immediately clear whether he was killed by officers or shot himself.


A gunman, now identified as 28-year-old veteran of Ian David Long, killed 12 people, including a police officer, when he opened fire in a country music bar in California. (Screenshot: Social Media)

Speaking at a news conference in the early hours of Thursday, a sheriff said about a dozen other people were injured. He said the cause of the shooting and the identity of the shooting were unknown.

It was the second major burn in America in less than two weeks.

Witnesses said the gunman, who was wearing a black trench coat, threw several smoke grenades inside Borderline Bar and Grill before it started firing at around 11:20 pm Wednesday night.

“It’s a terrible sight there. There is blood everywhere, ”Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean told reporters.

“It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post. As you know, these are ongoing investigations and that information will come out as soon as we can find out who the suspect was and what his possible reason for the investigation is. this horrible event. “

“It simply came to my notice then that the FBI is not linked to terrorism. We will definitely look at that option. “

Dean said the deceased police officer, identified as Ron Helus and who had been in the force for 29 years, was among the first to go on the scene.


The deceased police officer, identified as Ron Helus and who had been in the force for 29 years. (Given)

“They found 11 victims who were killed,” Dean said in the first response unit before detailing that Helus ’death brought the charge to 12, not including the gunman.

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Here is a recap of some of the other deadliest shootings in the country in the last 10 years.

– On October 1, 2017 a fully armed “single wolf” gunman opens a fire from a 32-story hotel room at an outdoor party on the Las Vegas Strip. He kills 58 people before turning his shotgun on himself. About 500 are injured.

– A 29-year-old gunman opens a fire inside a nightclub in the Florida city of Orlando on June 12, 2016 and killed 49 people. The hunter, who promised obedience to Daesh in a 911 call during the attack, was killed in a bullet when police stormed the building.

– A 20-year-old man killed his mother in New Connecticut in December 2012 before exploding into Sandy Hook Elementary School and shooting dead 20 children aged six and seven adults. He commits suicide.

– A gunman opens fire with assault rifle during a Sunday morning church service in a rural Texan community in Sutherland Springs on November 5, 2017, killing 26 people and injuring 20. The gunman is found , aged 26, dead in his vehicle.

– An alumnus opens fire at a high school in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018, killing 15 people in the building and two dying in hospital. A 19-year-old man arrested for disciplinary purposes has been arrested.

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The place in the quiet, upscale suburb of Thousand Oaks had hosted an event for college students, with perhaps hundreds of young people in attendance, said Captain Garo Kuredjian of the Ventura County Sheriff’s office earlier.

Matt Wennerstron, a 20-year-old college student and regular at the bar, said the hunter fired a pistol with short barrels that appeared to have a magazine around 10-15.

“It was just semi-automatic, as many pictures as it could take, and then when it started reloading that was when we got people out of there and I didn’t look back. . “

He said he and others broke their way out of the bar into a balcony and then jumped down to safety. “Stool one bar and straight through a window,” he told reporters.

TV footage showed SWAT crews around the bar, with anxious spies roaming around and using their cell phones when lights were lit from police cars.

Holden Harrah, a young man who witnessed the incident, laughed and told CNN that a place where he goes every week to have fun with friends had become a meat show.

“A gentleman walked in the front door and shot the girl behind the counter. I don’t know if she’s alive, ”he said.

The Los Angeles Times reported that a law enforcement officer said at least 30 scenes had been burned.

An anonymous witness told the newspaper that someone ran into the bar around 11:30 pm and started firing what looked like a black pistol.

“He shot at a lot, at least 30 times. I could still hear guns after everyone had left, ”the Times told the man.

This was the latest chapter in an American epidemic of gun violence.

Just 10 days ago a gunman killed 11 worshipers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

That shooting was politically conscious: the suspect, Robert Bowers, who said he wanted to kill him, argued that a Jewish advocacy group had been supporting a caravan of immigrants from Central America who had been killed. denied again by President Donald Trump in the run-up to Tuesday’s midterm election.

Last year’s country music festival called Route 91 in Las Vegas was the scene of a major setback in modern U.S. history. A gunman from the 32NG floor of a high-powered hotel and casino killed 58 people.

Carl Edgar, a 24-year-old regular at the Thousand Oaks club, said he was in the bar with about 20 friends and had not been able to reach some of them since they were shot. They may have turned their phones off, he said.

“Many of my friends survived on Route 91,” he told the Times. “If they survived from there, they will survive through this.”

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