5 Killed, Including Suspect, in Santa Monica Shootings

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Five people were killed Friday in a rolling wave of violence that began with a shooting and fire in a Santa Monica neighborhood, then continued with a gunman firing randomly at people and vehicles on Pico Boulevard and then on the campus of Santa Monica College, where the suspect was killed by police.

Complete Coverage of Shooting Violence in Santa Monica

• 5 Killed in Santa Monica Shootings
• Santa Monica Schools Impacted; Samohi Graduation Goes On as Planned 
  
• Shootings Change Obama’s Travel Plans
  
• Santa Monica Reacts to Violence at SMC
• SMC Cancels Weekend Events, Offers Support Services
  
• Police Search Mar Vista Unit for Santa Monica Shooting Link
• Neighbors Recount How Quiet Neighborhood Erupted Into Violence
• SMC Working on Plan for Students to Retrieve Property Left on Campus
  
• Police Release Details About Santa Monica Shootings
• Counseling Availble for Santa Monica College Students

The violent events unfolded around midday about three miles south of a political fundraiser attended by President Barack Obama.

According to police, the crime spree began around 11:50 a.m. with reports of shots fired and a house ablaze near Yorkshire and Kansas avenues.

Fire crews doused the fire and then found "multiple'' victims inside the home, according to Santa Monica fire Chief Scott Ferguson.

Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said at least two people were found dead at the scene.

According to witnesses, the gunman, clad in black and carrying a semiautomatic weapon, stood on Yorkshire Avenue and shot at a woman who was driving by.

He waved her to go through and she kind of slowed down, and when she hesitated and slowed down, he just fired three or four shots point blank into her car,'' resident Jerri Cunningham told ABC7.

The man apparently carjacked another vehicle and ended up at Cloverfield and Pico boulevards, where he began firing randomly at people and vehicles, including a Santa Monica Big Blue Bus, which wound up about mile north riddled with bullets.

Seabrooks said the gunman continued firing wildly, killing another person near Cloverfield and Pico and two people near 19th and Pearl streets before scrambling onto the Santa Monica College campus, where a barrage of gunfire erupted between the suspect and police.

The gunman fled into the campus library, where he continued firing and was eventually gunned down by police, Seabrooks said.

Three shooting victims, all female, were taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, two in critical condition and one in serious condition, according to UCLA health officials. One of the critical patients -- who was shot in the stomach -- was dead by mid-afternoon. The other was shot in the head, officials said.

Three other victims, also female, were taken to UCLA Medical Center Santa Monica in good condition. They were later released.

Campus worker Joe Orcutt told reporters said the suspect fired a shot at him.

“He fired two (shots) in the parking lot area and then when I turned around he shot at me, I was the third,'' Orcutt said. “And I heard probably another three, four individual shots until maybe three or four minutes later, and just a barrage of fire, which I'm assuming was the police firing at the library.''

The campus was placed on lockdown and finals were canceled for the remainder of the day. Neighboring Will Rogers Elementary School and John Adams Middle School were also locked down, as was Santa Monica High School, during the investigation, although students were later released.

Graduation ceremonies at Santa Monica High School were expected to go on as scheduled Friday night.

Some SMC students and campus workers -- with their hands in the air -- were escorted off campus by police.

California Highway Patrol Officer Vince Ramirez told CNS that a 911 call was initially received at 11:55 a.m. about a man with one or more guns firing south of the college.

Ramirez initially said one person had been taken into custody, but police were continuing to search the campus to determine if anyone else was involved. But some other initial reports also indicated that a suspect was “down.''

The shooting occurred just miles from the scene of a Democratic National Committee fundraiser attended by President Barack Obama in northern Santa Monica. The shooting did not impact the actual event, according to the U.S. Secret Service, but it did alter the president's route back to Los Angeles International Airport.

Cyrus Jabari, a 19-year-old freshman, told Patch that he was in the library when he saw the shooter, dressed in black with a long rifle, walk into the building. Jabari said a glass door was all that separated the two and that he heard several shots before running out the back door.

"I think it's pretty crazy since there was a bomb threat earlier this semester," Jabari said.

Anna Kaush, a part-time SMC faculty member in Statistics and Mathematics, was in the library for a meeting when the shots rang out. She said she was told to evacuate.

"It felt like a war zone, I couldn't believe it," Kaush said.

Another student told ABC7 she heard gunshots while she was heading to the library to study for her final exams, which were being administered on the campus this week.

“I ran to my car as quick as I could,'' she told Channel 7. “I didn't know what to do.''