A gunman who opened fire at a restaurant in Nevada’s capital, Carson City, last night, killing three people including two uniformed National Guard members has died in hospital.
Six others were injured in yesterday's morning attack, authorities and witnesses said.
It was not immediately clear whether the gunman had any connection with the military or the Guard. It is understood that guard members were meeting at the breakfast restaurant the the shooting occured.
Police said the shooting appeared to be an isolated incident.
“We came into this with everything we had. All agencies were committed to it,” Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong said. “There were concerns at the onset, so we took certain steps to ensure we had the capability to embrace an even larger circumstance. At this point in time it appears to be isolated to this parking lot.”
Witnesses said a man pulled up in a blue minivan around 9am at the International House of Pancakes restaurant in a strip mall on Carson City’s main street. He shot a man on a motorcycle, then walked inside the restaurant and started shooting, said Ralph Swagler, owner of Locals Barbecue in the same strip mall as the IHOP.
One of the two guard members killed was a man; the other was a woman, authorities said.
The man then walked outside and began firing into the Locals Barbecue and an H&R Block accountant in the strip mall.
Renown Regional Medicare Centre spokesman Dan Davis said four victims of the shooting were being treated at the hospital in Reno, but he said he could not discuss their condition or provide any other information.
Kurt Althof, public relations manager for Care Flight, said three victims had been taken to the hospital by helicopter and that two were in a critical condition.
The gunman was admitted to hospital with self-inflected wounds but did not survive.
Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Chuck Allen said extra security measures were put in place at state and military buildings in northern Nevada as a safety precaution.
AP