CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A man with a rifle shot an entire group of five uniformed National Guard members eating breakfast at a Nevada IHOP on Tuesday, killing two of them and another person in a hail of gunfire, authorities and witnesses said. The suspect also shot himself and later died at a hospital. Six people were wounded in the attack.
Authorities weren't saying whether the gunman targeted the Guard members. But Nevada National Guard spokeswoman April Conway said there's no indication he had any connection with the Guard.
Conway didn't know why the five Guard members had met at the IHOP, in a strip mall on Carson City's main street. But she noted the restaurant is about four miles from the Guard's headquarters complex.
The two Guard members killed were a man and a woman.
Authorities were at first worried about the violence being more widespread. They locked down the state Capitol and Supreme Court buildings for about 40 minutes, and put extra security in place at state and military buildings in northern Nevada.
"There were concerns at the onset, so we took certain steps to ensure we had the capability to embrace an even larger circumstance," Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong said. "At this point in time it appears to be isolated to this parking lot."
Witnesses said the gunman pulled up in a blue minivan around 9 a.m. and shot a man on a motorcycle, then walked inside the restaurant and started shooting. He then walked back outside and fired shots toward a barbecue restaurant and an H&R Block in the strip mall, and toward a casino across the street.
"I don't know what's happening to my city," Fran Hunter, who works at the Sierra Le Bone pet shop just north of the IHOP, told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "This happens in L.A. or Las Vegas but not here."
Furlong said officers received a call about the gunfire and responded within minutes. He said the suspect was wounded and lying in the parking lot when they arrived at the scene.
Furlong added the person who was shot on the motorcycle also was alive when officers arrived, and was transported to a hospital.
Local and state police and FBI agents descended on the scene, and yellow police tape surrounded the parking lot at the restaurant, which is near a Kohl's department store. A body lay on the ground at the scene, covered with a white sheet except for the feet, which were in tan boots.
"As you know when you have people in uniform who are randomly targeted for whatever reason this may have been, it is a safety precaution we take very seriously," Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Chuck Allen said.
Renown Regional Medicare Center spokesman Dan Davis told The Associated Press four of the shooting victims were being treated at the hospital in Reno, but he said he could not discuss their condition or provide any other information.
Care Flight spokesman Kurt Althof told the Gazette-Journal that three victims had been taken to Renown by helicopter and two were in critical condition.
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