Gunman kills 5 in mass shooting in California

An unidentified gunman killed five people in a mass shooting late Wednesday before taking his own life in Bakersfield, California, 200 km north of Los Angeles, local media reported.

When briefing the media on the case, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said it was a highly unusual case with "six people shot and dead in one incident," describing the fatal incident as a "mass shooting."

According to the local Bakersfield Californian website, the incident occurred Wednesday afternoon and the policemen first responded at around 5:20 p.m.(0020 GMT, Thursday).

The report said the suspect went to a trucking company with his wife. He first confronted a man at the company and shot him, then he turned to shoot his wife. After that, when a third man showed up on the scene, that person was pursued and shot dead as well.

The gunman then went to a residence, where he confronted a man and a woman and shot them dead. He was chased by a deputy to a parking lot where he shot himself in the chest.

Kristen Powers, a reporter at the local bakersfieldnow.com, tweeted that the whole incident, from the suspect shooting the first victim at the truck shop to him killing himself, happened within 10 to 15 minutes.

She also revealed that the man and woman who were killed at a residence were father and daughter, both adults.

Youngblood said deputies are still investigating the relationship among the deceased and the motive of the killer.