Gunman Fatally Shoots 3 at Nevada IHOP Before Killing Himself
A gunman opened fire Tuesday morning inside an IHOP restaurant in Carson City, Nev., killing three people and wounding six others before turning the gun on himself.
Witnesses said the shooter was driving a blue minivan when he pulled up outside the restaurant, located at a strip mall on South Carson Street.
The unidentified gunman, carrying a rifle, shot a man on a motorcycle before walking inside the IHOP and firing off shots, witnesses said.
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The gunman started firing inside the IHOP restaurant around 9 a.m., according to police. He managed to kill three people, two of them National Guard members, before shooting himself.
The suspect died at a hospital in Reno, where he had been taken for treatment, according to police.
Special Agent Patrick Turner, spokesman for the FBI Nevada office in Las Vegas, said investigators believe the unidentified gunman acted alone.
"This happens in third-world countries, not here," Ralph Swagler, owner of Locals Barbecue in the same strip mall as the IHOP, told the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Gary Gamba, general sales manager at Michael Hohl Motors, which is across the street from the IHOP, described hearing dozens of gunshots.
"We just heard basically a string of gunshots, probably five to seven back to back to back to back and then there was probably a 30-second delay then an automatic weapon fired, probably 20 to 30 shots,” Gamba told the Las Vegas publication.
Four victims were being treated at a hospital in Reno, according Renown Regional Medicare Center spokesman Dan Davis.
Officials were reluctant to say whether the gunman might have been targeting National Guard members. Several Guard members were meeting at the IHOP when the shooting began, reports The Associated Press.
None of the victims’ names have been released.
