A man opened fire on his stepdaughter’s family inside a California restaurant on Saturday, killing her husband and six-year-old son, critically wounding her and another child, and then fatally shooting himself, the police said.
The 56-year-old man arrived at the Del Taco restaurant in San Bernardino on a bike at about 1 pm, walked over to a table and fired several shots at his 29-year-old stepdaughter, her 33-year-old husband, and their sons, ages 5 and 6, Lt. Jarrod Burguan said.
“There was a very brief exchange of words, then he opened fire on them at near point-blank range,” Burguan said. The woman’s husband was declared dead at the restaurant and the six-year-old died at a hospital, San Bernardino fire department spokesman Steve Tracey said.
The woman and the five-year-old boy were in critical condition at Loma Linda University Medical Centre, Tracey said. The names of the victims and the shooter weren’t released. The woman’s mother who was married to the gunman died several years ago and investigators were probing what ties the gunman and his stepdaughter may still have had as they sought a motive for the shooting, Burguan said. The police said between five and seven employees and several other customers were in the fast food restaurant, but the gunman clearly walked in seeking the four victims and no one else was injured. Bullet holes marked the walls and glass covered the floor. Owners of nearby businesses said horrified patrons streamed out of the restaurant.
The gunman, who is from Lancaster in northern Los Angeles County, had an extensive criminal record.