Four people, including a child, were killed and a fifth was critically injured when a gunman opened fire at an office building in a Los Angeles suburb on Wednesday afternoon local time, police said.
The gunfire rang out in a two-story business complex on West Lincoln Avenue in the city of Orange, about 30 miles southeast of LA, around 5:30 p.m., Lt. Jennifer Amat said at a press conference.
When officers responded, shots were actively being fired, Amat told reporters. The gunman was critically wounded when police confronted him, and was later transported to an area hospital. It’s unclear if he was shot by police or if his wound was self-inflicted, cops said.
A fifth female victim was also transported to the hospital in critical condition, Amat said during a later press briefing.
“It’s a very tragic incident and we’re doing our very best to make sure it’s investigated thoroughly,” Amat said.
The identities of the victims were not immediately released and cops were only able to provide scant details by late Wednesday local time. Amat said a gun was found at the scene, but she could not say what type of gun it was, or which business the shooting specifically took place in or how old the child victim was.
Amat did say the shooting, and the cops’ interaction with the suspect, spanned both stories of the complex and an adjoining courtyard.
Amat directed family members with relatives who work at the complex to head to the Orange Police Department, where detectives will help them determine if their loved ones were killed.
“I’m deeply saddened by reports of a mass shooting in Orange County, and I’m continuing to keep victims and their loved ones in my thoughts as we continue to learn more. My team and I will continue to monitor the situation closely,” Democratic Congresswoman Katie Porter wrote in a tweet.
The circumstances of the shooting are unclear, but the situation has been “stabilized,” and there is no further threat, cops told the local station.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also tweeted about the shooting Wednesday night, calling it “horrifying and heartbreaking.”
“Our hearts are with the families impacted by this terrible tragedy tonight,” he wrote.
The mass shooting is the latest incident in a string of mass shootings across the country in recent weeks.
Last week, 10 people were killed when a gunman opened fire inside a Boulder, Colo., grocery store — and a week prior to that, eight people were gunned down at three separate massage parlors near Atlanta, Georgia.
