Three people, including a child, have been killed in a shooting in a classroom of a primary school in San Bernardino, California, police say.
The gunman, named as 53-year-old Cedric Anderson, shot dead his estranged wife, a teacher, and wounded two children who were behind her, one of whom died of his wounds.
He then turned the gun on himself, police said.
Police chief Jarrod Burguan described the incident as a suspected “murder-suicide” attempt.
The shooting happened at 10:30 local time at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino county, 60 miles east of Los Angeles.
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The gunman had gained entry to the school as a visitor and kept his weapon concealed until he opened fire in the classroom where 15 children with special needs were being taught, authorities said.
Cedric Anderson killed his wife Karen Elaine Smith and fatally wounded 8-year-old Jonathan Martinez, who was airlifted to hospital but later died.
A 9-year-old pupil remains in hospital in a stable condition, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Jarrod Burguan tweeted shortly after the incident that the suspect was “down” and there was “no further threat”. The school was immediately evacuated.
Up to 600 students were transferred by bus to nearby Cajon High School, where they were later met by their parents.
“Police operations are continuing to secure the area,” Jarrod Burguan said earlier on Twitter.
He added: “However, we do believe the threat is down.”
Southern California authorities have order the evacuation of 82,000 people from San Bernardino County after a wildfire broke in a mountain pass.
The blaze broke out on August 16 and has already engulfed about 15,000 acres of land.
Tens of thousands of homes are at risk from the so-called Blue Cut fire. A state of emergency has been declared.
Another fire, the Clayton, which broke out on August 13 in northern California, has destroyed 175 homes.
Photo Wikipedia
The Bluecut fire spread with great speed in the parched canyons around San Bernardino. At least a dozen buildings have already been engulfed.
Forest Service spokeswoman Lyn Sieliet said: “It is a very fast-moving fire, it has wind behind it.”
California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency in San Bernardino County to bring in federal assistance.
The wildfire forced the closure of a stretch of Interstate 15, the main road between Las Vegas and Los Angeles area.
Some 700 firefighters are battling to control the blaze in the Cajon Pass. Its cause remains unknown.
The fire is now heading into the Mojave Desert.
The main communities forced to evacuate were the ski resort of Wrightwood and the desert town of Phelan.
Further north, the Clayton Fire in Lake County was now 35% contained, California’s department of forestry and fire protection said.
The authorities announced on August 16 that Damin Pashilk, 40, was facing 17 counts of arson and was suspected of involvement in numerous other fires in the Lake County area over the past year. He will appear in court on August 17.
A third fire, the Chimney, has affected 6,900 acres since August 13 and has destroyed about 40 buildings in central California.
California police are searching for up to three gunmen after a shooting at a facility for disabled people.
Fire officials in San Bernardino said it was responding to a “20 victim shooting incident” at the Inland Regional Center and it was working to clear the scene.
ABC News reports that there are 12 people dead but police have not confirmed that number.
It is still a “very active scene” and police were trying to secure the building, said a police spokeswoman.
There may be up to three gunmen, she said, and they were heavily armed and possibly wearing body armor.
The gunmen may have fled the scene in a black SUV and may have had long guns.
Photo AP
One man received a text from his daughter that said she was hiding inside the building, where she works.
Terry Petit told reporters his daughter wrote to him: “People shot. In the office waiting for cops. Pray for us. I am locked in an office.”
President Barack Obama has responded to the shooting.
“One thing we do know is that we have a pattern of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere in the world,” he said.
“There are some steps that we could take, not to eliminate all incidents, but to make sure they happen less frequently.”
A local reporter tweeted that people were being evacuated from the Inland Regional Center, a medical and health organization.
The organization administers help to people with disabilities like autism and other mental health problems.
The shooting is happening less than a week after a shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado left three people dead and nine people wounded.
People are being seen wheeled away on stretchers with medics and police officers in attendance.
CNN reports that area hospitals are receiving at least 15 patients from the shooting.
An employee of the centre told CNN that the building was holding an event for county personnel inside an auditorium when the shooting occurred.
Representatives from the FBI and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are on the scene.
No arrests have been made yet.
There are also unconfirmed reports of an explosive device at the scene.
Witnesses told CNN they heard rapid shooting coming from nearby the building.
Police confirmed a report that the suspects entered a conference room in the building and started shooting but had no further details.
There are three buildings on the campus with more than 600 employees total, said Kristin Myricks, an employee of the centre who did not go to work today.
The facility has had active gunman training in the past. Badges are needed to enter the facility.
A California driver involved in a high-speed chase on I-225 was struck by gunfire from a police helicopter, officials have confirmed.
According to police, the driver had refused to pull over and had sped past stop signs and red lights.
Police opened fire when the car began heading the wrong way on a motorway. The driver was later confirmed dead.
A sheriff’s spokeswoman said shootings from helicopters were rare but deputies did train for such eventualities.
The incident began on September 18 in Devore, east of Los Angeles, when police tried to pull over a man believed to have committed a burglary.
The Chevrolet Tahoe SUV drove through residential districts at high speed, narrowly missing pedestrians, before getting on to I-215 the wrong way, a statement from the San Bernardino County sheriff’s department said.
A deputy in a helicopter giving chase opened fire, hitting the SUV several times.
The wounded driver jumped from the moving car and ran a short distance before collapsing and dying by the side of the road, the statement said.
Police say they are awaiting autopsy results to reveal whether the man died from gunshot wounds or from leaping from the vehicle.
Police spokeswoman Jodi Miller said officers decided to open fire because the driver was threatening public safety.
The driverless SUV crashed head-on into a Dodge Durango injuring three people, one of whom remains in hospital, police added.
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