California shooter who killed 4 knew his victims, including 9-year-old -police

The shooting in Orange, California, that killed four people including a 9-year-old boy on Wednesday was carried out by a 44-year-old man who knew the victims, police said on Thursday as they ruled out the shooting as a random act.

Besides the boy, the other fatalities were a man and two women, Orange Police Department Lieutenant Jennifer Amat told a news conference. Another woman and the shooter were hospitalised, Amat said.

Officials identified the suspect as Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez, 44, a resident of the nearby city of Fullerton, saying he entered a business called Unified Homes on Wednesday afternoon and locked the gates behind him with a bicycle lock.

Authorities recovered a semi-automatic handgun, pepper spray and handcuffs.

The bloodshed in the city of Orange, about 30 miles (48 km)southeast of downtown Los Angeles, marked the third deadly mass shooting in the United States in less than a month.

Reuters