Two dead after shooting at California distribution centre

Two dead after shooting at California distribution centre

A man drove into a Northern California distribution centre and opened fire, killing an employee and injuring four other people before he was killed by police, authorities said.

The shooting by a 31-year-old man with a semi-automatic rifle started at about 3.30pm on Saturday at the Walmart distribution centre south of Red Bluff, a city of some 14,000 people about 131 miles (210km) north of Sacramento.

Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said at a news conference that the gunman circled the car park four times before crashing into the building and opening fire with the rifle.

Distribution Center Shooting
Crime tape blocks off the car park after the shooting outside the Walmart Distribution Centre in Red Bluff, California (Mike Chapman/The Record Searchlight/AP)

The employee who died was Martin Haro-Lozano, 45, of Orland, California, Mr Johnston said.

Officials did not identify the gunman, but Mr Johnston said he has a history with the Red Bluff workplace.

The four people injured in the shooting were taken to St Elizabeth Community Hospital in Red Bluff, spokeswoman Allison Hendrickson told the Associated Press, but she declined to provide more details.

Some of the 200 workers inside the facility locked themselves in a room, employees told KHSL-TV.

The suspect was shot in the chest at about 3.45pm, dispatchers told the local Redding Record Searchlight newspaper.

Distribution Center Shooting
Lieutenant Yvette Borden and Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston, of the Tehama County Sheriff’s Office, at the scene (Mike Chapman/The Record Searchlight/AP)

“It went on and on – I don’t even know how many times he fired,” he said. “I just know it was a lot.”

Mr Thammakhanty and other workers started running for their lives, and he saw people lying on the ground as he went, he said.

Fellow employee Franklin Lister told the New York Times he had just started work when a co-worker ran down the corridor shouting: “Active gunfire! Active shooter!”

Vince Krick told the Record Searchlight that his wife and son work at the facility and he was on his way to pick up his wife when he saw the flames.

Neither was hurt, but his wife told him not to go to the front entrance, the newspaper reported.

“It was real crazy, because, you know, you can’t do nothing,” Mr Krick said.

Distribution Center Shooting
People wait behind police tape after the shooting at the Red Bluff Walmart distribution centre (Damon Arthur/The Record Searchlight/AP)

A man had also reported his leg being run over when the gunman rammed a vehicle into the building, but the man was not sure if he had been shot, dispatchers said.

Walmart spokesman Scott Pope told the Record Searchlight that the company was “aware of the situation” and working with law enforcement.

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