Posted on 11/08/18
Thousand Oaks, CA - A law enforcement official says authorities have identified the gunman and the handgun he used to kill 12 people at a Southern California bar.
The official told The Associated Press the man was 29 years old and deployed a smoke device and used a .45-caliber handgun when he opened fire inside the Borderline Bar & Grill late Wednesday in Thousand Oaks, north of Los Angeles.
The official declined to provide any other details, speaking on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to publicly discuss the investigation.
Authorities and witnesses say the gunman wore dark clothing and didn’t say anything as he fired inside the bar. Hundreds of people fled, some breaking windows and jumping out of second-floor windows to escape.
Cole Knapp is a freshman at Moorpark College and was inside the Borderline Bar & Grill when the shooting began.
He says he tried to get as many people to cover as he could. He says he fled through an exit door to a closed patio where he told people “everybody get over the fence as quickly as you can,” and followed them over.
Then he says he found a highway patrol officer nearby who just happened to pull someone over, and he screamed to him, “there’s a shooter in there!”
Knapp says the officer “was kind of in disbelief,” then saw he was serious. He says he has friends who haven’t been accounted for.
President Donald Trump is offering condolences after a mass shooting at a Southern California bar.
Trump said on Twitter Thursday that he has been “fully briefed on the terrible shooting.” He praised law enforcement, saying “Great bravery shown by police” and said “God bless all of the victims and families of the victims.”