Five people dead in California shooting, including sheriff’s deputy

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Five people have died at a home shooting in Wasco, California, authorities say.

According to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, the shooting happened on Sunday afternoon. The dead include three victims in the home, a sheriff’s deputy, and the suspected shooter. Another sheriff’s deputy was also shot and wounded.

Wasco’s mayor, Alex Garcia, offered his condolences in a statement.

“This afternoon, I received news that every mayor prays to never get,” Mr Garcia wrote on Sunday. “While reporting to a standoff here in Wasco, one of our brave Kern County Sheriff Deputies was killed in action and one other was shot and wounded. Although this remains an ongoing situation, at this time I would like to share that my heart goes out to the families of both the deputies.”

According to Lt Joel Swanson of the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, police received calls of a possible shooting at around 1pm on Sunday. When deputies arrived at the scene, the suspect began shooting at them from inside the home, but did not manage to hit anyone. The deputies took cover, and the town was put on lockdown.

Later a SWAT team arrived to assist the deputies. At 2:50pm, the lieutenant said, a “quick-react team” approached the home. It was at this point that the two deputies were shot, one of them fatally. Both were taken to a hospital.

At 6:28pm, Lt Swanson said, the suspect was shot. He was also taken to hospital, and later died.

The names of the suspect and the slain deputy have not yet been released.

The Kern County District Attorney’s Office offered its sympathies on Twitter.

“Our deepest condolences to family, friends & fellow deputies of the KC Deputy Sheriff who was killed in the line of duty today,” the DA tweeted. “Our hearts are broken.”

Gun violence has recently skyrocketed in the United States, killing 43,561 Americans in 2020. According to the Gun Violence Archive, that makes 2020 the deadliest year in the past two decades.