Gun violence has almost a normal part of everyday life in the United States as recent news coming from California reveal that an unidentified gunman shot and killed his wife as well as four other people before turning the gun on himself.
The incident which occurred on Wednesday happened when the gun man accompanied his wife to a trucking company in Bakersfield, California.
While the couple was there, the man shot and killed a man and then turned the gun on his wife and shot her fatally before chasing another man from the premises of the trucking company whom he caught up with and also shot and killed.
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In less than fifteen minutes the gunman had killed two more men at a house before he stole a car from a woman and her child. He turned the gun and shot himself when he was confronted by a sheriff’s deputy.
The shooting was announced by Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood who held a news conference to the effect. According to the County Sheriff;
“This is the new normal, if you look across the country. Six people lost their lives in a very short period of time”
He further added that the entire incident took place in 10 to 15 minutes, describing the incident as a mass shooting.
County authorities are still working to determine the cause of the incident because although it is regarded as a mass shooting, the shootings did not seem to be random or coincidental.
“Authorities were working to determine “why this started and why so many players were involved and the connection because obviously these are not random shootings. There was some type of situation that caused the husband to be extremely upset,” the county sheriff said.
Police recovered a pistol at the scene but refused to disclose the identities of the victims involved.