Gunman kills 5 people, then himself, in Bakersfield, California

Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood talks to reporters
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/AP)

At about 5:20 p.m. on Wednesday, an unidentified man and his wife showed up at a trucking company in Bakersfield, California, and after fatally shooting his wife and a man he confronted at the business, he chased a third man into a sporting goods store and killed him, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said Wednesday night. The man then went into a home and shot dead two people, hijacked a car driven by a woman with a child (both escaped), and turned the gun on himself when confronted by a sheriff's deputy, killing himself with a gunshot in the chest.

"Obviously there's some type of situation that caused the husband to be extremely upset," Youngblood told reporters, adding that he's confident there's some connection between the six people killed in the short span of time. "These are not random shootings."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.