Crazed Santa Monica Gunman Kills Four, Injures At Least Five Others [Video/Pics]

Video And Pics After The Jump

A berserk black-clad gunman carrying an AR-15 assault rifle went on a bloody rampage in southern California on Friday, killing four people and injuring at least five others before cops shot him dead at a college library.

The body of a man believed to be the suspect in a shooting incident at Santa Monica College lay on the sidewalk.

The violence erupted about noon, when the unidentified suspect apparently murdered his father and brother in a modest, single-story home in the beachfront community of Santa Monica, law enforcement sources told the Los Angeles Times.

Neighbors reported hearing multiple gunshots coming from the house before they spotted smoke pouring from the windows.

Students at Santa Monica College were evacuated from campus with their hands above their head.

But before cops arrived, a man wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying the assault weapon - the same type of rifle used in the Newtown massacre that left 26 people, mostly children, dead in December - was seen leaving the burning home, police said.

The crazed killer then shot a woman in a black Infiniti, and hopped into the passenger side of a nearby purple Mazda, ordering that driver to drive away, neighbors and police said. The woman he shot was later taken to a hospital and was expected to survive.

The ballistic vest and a boot of the man suspected in the Santa Monica shooting rampage lay on the bloodied sidewalk.

The gunman, who was carrying multiple rounds of ammunition and other guns, got out of the car at the Santa Monica College campus and began squeezing off shots at passing vehicles, including a police car and a city bus, leaving three people with minor injuries.

“Everyone threw themselves on the floor, screams,” student Marta Fagerstroem, who was on the bus, told NBC4. “The bus driver, she panicked. She couldn’t drive away. She was able to, after a while.”

Police officers Friday stand next to the body of a man believed to be the suspect in a fatal shooting on and off the Santa Monica College campus.

At least one round hit a man driving a red SUV, which crashed in the staff parking lot of the school. The driver died, and his passenger, a woman, was critically hurt in the wreck.

The madman then fatally shot a woman collecting cans outside the school before he dashed onto the campus and opened fire on students who were trying to run away.

A gunman may have set this house on fire on Friday before heading to Santa Monica College, where he continued his shooting rampage.

“We saw a woman get shot in the head,” said Trena Johnson, an administrative assistant who watched the murder from a window of the dean’s officer. “I haven’t been able to stop shaking.”

“It was very chaotic,” said 41-year-old Joe Orcutt - who ducked out of the path of one of the killer’s bullets.

A police officer walks on the street during a search at Santa Monica College following a shooting on campus in Santa Monica. Gunshots were fired at Santa Monica College west of Los Angeles.

“A lot of people were hiding under desks in corners,” he said. “He was just walking calmly like it was target practice ... He wasn’t talking or yelling. He just seemed kind of blank.”

A women was comforted by a traffic officer near Santa Monica College following a shooting today on the campus.

The gunman ended his 10-minute spree in the school’s library, where he opened fire on students studying for finals.

“There was a panic - a lot of people rushed out,” Kai Matsukuma, who was in the library, told the Daily News. “Everyone in the library freaked out and ran out the back ... I was outside the library before he got in.”

A Santa Monica police officer lead on a field trip to the planetarium at Santa Monica College out of the school.

The college was quickly put on lockdown and cops shot the suspect during a gunbattle inside the library, authorities said. The bleeding suspect managed to escape the room, but he collapsed soon after passing the library’s doors, officials said.

“We didn’t know what was happening until all the students at the entrance of the library started running down toward the bottom of the library,” student Sam Luster told KABC-TV.

Police descended upon Santa Monica College after a gunman opened fire at the campus.

“The officers came in and directly engaged the suspect, and he was shot and killed on the scene,” Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said at a news conference.

Police initially reported seven people dead, including the shooter, but lowered that body count to four Friday night.

Police officers gather during a search at Santa Monica College following a shooting on campus in Santa Monica, Calif.

Once inside library, police instructed students to crawl on their hands and knees out of the building. Several people reported moving past the bloody body of a man dressed in black. A second man initially described by police as a person of interest was taken into custody at the scene but was later released.

Investigators were still trying to determine if the wild spree was planned or if the suspect snapped during a domestic dispute.

SWAT officers conduct a search at Santa Monica College following a shooting on campus in Santa Monica, California.

Federal agents and officers with the police department’s bomb squad searched the charred home after they found munitions inside.

Neighbors said a family of Lebanese descent lived at the address and had recently gone through a bitter divorce. Since then, they said, the mother had moved out and assumed custody of at least one of her two sons.

The midday shootings took place about half an hour after President Obama’s motorcade passed through the area to bring him to a fund-raising luncheon about three miles away. The Secret Service said the rampage did not affect the President’s fundraising visit to Los Angeles, but his limousine was rerouted as a precaution.

Several schools in the area were put on lockdown for several hours, and Santa Monica College canceled final exams.

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