As the U.S. returns to some semblance of normalcy amid widespread COVID vaccination, one unwelcome regular feature of American life has returned with a vengeance: mass shootings.
Police said four people were killed, including a child, in a shooting in Orange, California, on Wednesday. It was the third incident since mid-March in which four or more people were killed, following the spa attacks in Georgia and the grocery-store shooting in Colorado. Last year saw a rare lull in mass-casualty shootings that took place in public.
Police responded to an office building in Orange, which is about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The suspected gunman engaged in a shootout with police, which appeared to take place in the courtyard of the building, ABC7 reports. The gunman was critically wounded, though it is not clear if the wound was self-inflicted. Along with the four dead, another woman was also in critical condition.
Other details were scant. The names of those who were killed have not been revealed, nor have their ages. A motive in the shooting is also unclear, with more information expected to be released by police on Thursday.
Police said it was Orange’s deadliest shooting since 1997. California Governor Gavin Newsom called the violence. “horrifying and heartbreaking.”
