A gunman killed 12 people including a sheriff\u2019s deputy after he walked into a Southern California bar and started shooting late Wednesday night, police said. <\/p>\n
The gunman was also killed, Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean told a news conference early Thursday, though it was not immediately clear by whom. <\/p>\n
An unknown number of people were wounded during the attack at the Borderline Bar and Grill, a country & western venue in the Los Angeles suburb of Thousand Oaks. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a horrific scene in there,\u201d Dean said. \u201cThere is blood everywhere and the suspect is part of that.\u201d <\/p>\n
The dead officer was identified as Sergeant Ron Helus, a 29-year veteran of the department, Dean told reporters. Helus and a California Highway Patrol officer were the first to arrive at the bar and went inside just before 11:30 p.m. PST (0730 GMT).<\/p>\n
After a lull of about 15 minutes, more officers went inside and found the suspected gunman dead of a gunshot wound. It was not clear whether he killed himself or was killed by officers, Dean said. <\/p>\n
The incident came less than two weeks after a gunman with an automatic rifle fatally shot 11 people during sabbath services at a Pittsburgh synagogue. <\/p>\n
Witness John Hedge told ABC News he was near the front door of the California bar when the shooting began. <\/p>\n
\u201cI just started hearing these big pops. Pop pop pop. There was probably three or four. I hit the ground. I look up. The security guard … was shot, he was down. The gunman was throwing smoke grenades all over the place. I saw him point to the back at the cash register and he just kept firing.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dean estimated that 10 to 15 people, including one with a gunshot wound, went themselves to area hospitals. He said he thought their injuries were minor, and that most of them were likely injured as they escaped, some by breaking windows. <\/p>\n
None of the civilian victims were identified. Helus died while being treated at an area hospital several hours after he was shot, Dean said. <\/p>\n
Officials said shots were still being fired when the first officers arrived at the scene<\/p>\n
Egypt Today <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A gunman killed 12 people including a sheriff\u2019s deputy after he walked into a Southern California bar and started shooting late Wednesday night, police said. The gunman was also killed, Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean told a news conference early Thursday, though it was not immediately clear by whom. An unknown number of people were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":114069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7863],"tags":[43733,43732,43734,43735],"class_list":["post-114068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-section","tag-bar-shooting","tag-california","tag-ron-helus","tag-sheriff-geoff-dean"],"yoast_head":"\n