Five Dead in Rampage at Santa Monica College

Started as a family dispute

SANTA MONICA -- A man with a semi-automatic rifle killed four people and wounded several others Friday as he carried out a deadly rampage across several blocks of a normally idyllic beachfront city before police shot him dead in the Santa Monica College Library.

The violence began when the gunman, dressed in all black and wearing what appeared to be a ballistic jacket, opened fire on a house, setting it ablaze, Santa Monica police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said.

Two officials who were briefed on the situation said the bodies of the gunman's father and a brother were found inside the house and that the incident had begun as a dispute with family members. The two officials did not want to be named because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.