3 dead in restaurant shooting (BLOG)

Carson City Nevada Sheriff Kenny Furlong said a gunman opened fire inside an IHOP restaurant. He said multiple people were wounded, including the shooter.

CARSON CITY, Nevada — Three people were killed and at least six others were wounded, including the gunman, during a shooting Tuesday morning at a restaurant in Carson City, according to the FBI and local police.

Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong said a gunman armed with an automatic weapon opened fire inside an IHOP restaurant about 9 a.m. on Tuesday.

The alleged gunman's wounds were self-inflicted and he remains alive at a local hospital but was unlikely to survive, Furlong told reporters at a press briefing.

At least two of the people killed were "military folks," Furlong said, but he gave no further details to any military connection. They were identified as National Guard members in uniform, according to Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Chuck Allen.

Allen said extra security measures have been put in place on state and military buildings in northern Nevada as a safety precaution.

There was some confusion over the number of wounded; at the briefing Furlong at first said six were wounded, but later said the gunman was in addition to those.

The sheriff said investigators believe only one shooter was involved.

The conditions and names of the victims were not released. Some of the victims were being transported from the scene by helicopter, and others left by ambulance.

The incident took place at the Carson City International House of Pancakes on South Carson Street.

Ralph Swagler, owner of another restaurant near the IHOP told the Reno Gazette-Journal that he witnessed the shooting. Swagler said he saw a man wearing a red shirt and black shorts pull up to the IHOP in blue minivan. The man then pulled out a rifle and shot a man on a motorcycle, then walked inside IHOP and started shooting, Swagler told the newspaper.

The man then fired several shots at other businesses in the area, including the Locals Barbecue and the H&R Block.

"This happens in Third-World countries, not here," Swagler, owner of Locals Barbecue, told the newspaper.

The minivan was registered locally, Furlong said.

Local and state police and FBI agents descended on the scene on the main street in the state capital, also called U.S. 395. Yellow tape surrounded the parking lot near a Kohl's department store in a shopping complex across the street from a casino and hotel.

A business in the area told NBC station KRNV TV that nearby businesses have been put on lockdown.

"We just heard basically a string of gunshots, probably 5 to 7 back to back to back to back and then there was probably 30 second delay then an automatic weapon fired, probably 20 to 30 shots," said Gary Gamba, general sales manager at Michael Hohl Motors, which is across the street from the IHOP.




msn