Five people -- including the gunman -- were confirmed dead during an 8:20 p.m. PST press conference by Santa Monica police sergeant Richard Lewis. Several people were also wounded: one person critically, one person in serious but stable condition and three people with minor injuries.
Two of the victims, found in a burning Santa Monica house, are believed to be the brother and father of the gunman, the Los Angeles Times reports. Sgt. Lewis didn't confirm the relationship except to say it could be a possibility.
At the time of the press conference, police believe there was only one shooter, said Sgt. Lewis. One person they took into custody after the shooting was questioned and then released.
Jacqueline Seabrooks, Chief of the Santa Monica Police Department, described the incident as a series of shootings that began on a residential block and ended on the Santa Monica College campus. Two bodies were found in a house on the 2000 block of Yorkshire Avenue just before noon and a home was on fire, Seabrooks said at a press conference at 4:30 p.m. PST. Then the gunman moved westward toward campus, firing at cars, including a bus and police vehicle and killing at least two people, the Los Angeles Times and AP report.
Police officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect on campus, before the suspect ran into the college library, Seabrooks said. The suspect allegedly shot a woman and accosted other patrons of the library before officers shot at him in the building. He retreated, and authorities shot and killed him on campus.
The suspect was described as a white male between the ages of 25 and 30 years old and was believed to have been wearing all black and a ballistic vest, Seabrooks said.
Police are about "90 percent certain" that the campus has been cleared of any additional suspects, Santa Monica College Police Chief Albert Vasquez said at the 4:30 p.m. press conference. One person of interest was arrested and is in custody.
Three female patients were receiving care at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, said a hospital spokesperson to The Huffington Post. One of the female patients died of abdominal gunshot wounds, Dr. Marshall Morgan, chief of emergency medicine at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, said at a press conference at 3:30 p.m. PST. Another female patient was in critical condition and in surgery. The third female patient was in serious but stable condition.
Three other people were being treated at UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica. They were all being treated for non-critical injuries relating to the incident but none of them were shot, Dr. Morgan said.
California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Officer Kerri Rivas walked HuffPost through the timeline of Friday's shooting from the point of view of the CHP.
11:55 a.m.: CHP began receiving multiple phone calls reporting a man dressed in black standing on a street corner. The reports varied in description: witnesses described him as either fully armed, holding a shotgun or holding several different weapons.
11:59 a.m.: CHP started fielding calls that the gunman was actively shooting at a bus and that there were injured parties inside the vehicle (See a photo of the bus with gunshots). At that point CHP officials were able to confirm with the Santa Monica Police Department that they had an active shooter on their hands.
12:17 p.m.: Santa Monica College students heard screams and shots being fired inside the library.
1:29 p.m.: SMPD confirmed they had one shooter in custody. From then on, the department began the process of containing and clearing the entire campus in search of other victims and suspects.
2:11 p.m.: At the time of HuffPost's call, authorities were continuing to clear the campus. The process could take several hours.
A Santa Monica College student described the gunman in an interview with the Associated Press. From AP:
Jimes Gillespie, 20, told The Associated Press he was in the college's library studying when he heard the gunfire, and he and dozens of other students began fleeing the three-story building.
"As I was running down the stairs I saw one of the gunmen," said Gillespie, who described the shooter as a white man in his 20s, wearing cornrows in his hair and black overalls. He said the man was carrying a shotgun.
Gillespie believes there were two shooters because he heard two kinds of gunfire – a shotgun and a handgun – but only saw one person.
"The shotgun blast was first. It was either him or the partner who shot eight to 10 handgun shots," Gillespie said. "Then after I saw the gunman I heard more shots and I ran out of the library through the emergency exit."
As Gillespie ran away across campus, he said he saw a car in front of the English building that was riddled with bullet holes, had shattered windows and a baby's car seat in the back.
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