THOUSAND OAK CITY, CA(TIP): A US Marine veteran dressed in black sprayed bullets inside a crowded dance bar popular with college students Wednesday, November 7 night, killing at least 12 persons, including a police officer, Sgt. Ron Helus,  here  in a ‘horrific’ mass shooting incident, reminiscent of Oct. 1, 2017 shootings in Las Vegas where 64-year-old Stephen Paddock broke through the window of his suite at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and fired at 22,000 people gathered at the country music concert, resulting in the death of 58 persons.

Besides the 12 killed, twenty-one persons were hurt.  They were taken to area hospitals where they were treated for their injuries and released.

Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean identified the gunman as 28-year-old Ian David Long, a retired Marine who served in Afghanistan. The suspect used a .45 caliber Glock handgun during the shooting, Dean said.

Long, who shot himself, was dead when officers made entry into the bar, Dean said as he described the shooting incident as ‘horrific’.

He said the motive of the shooter is still unclear. He was known to authorities for minor crimes. The shooter was on active duty with the US Marine Corps from August 2008 to March 2013, according to Department of Defense records. He also served in Afghanistan from November 2010 to June 2011.

Sheriff Sgt. Ron Helus was among the first to arrive on the scene, entering the bar with a California Highway Patrol officer. Helus exchanged gunfire with the suspect before being shot multiple times. He later died at a hospital.

The tragedy left a community that is annually listed as one of the safest cities in America reeling. Shootings of any kind are extremely rare in Thousand Oaks, a city of about 130,000 people about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Los Angeles, just across the county line.

Scores of people stood in line for hours to donate blood for the wounded, and all morning, people looking for missing friends and relatives arrived at a community center where authorities and counselors were informing the next-of-kin of those who died. Many people walked past TV cameras with blank stares or tears in their eyes. In the parking lot, some comforted each other with hugs or a pat on the back.

It was the nation’s deadliest such attack since 17 students and teachers were killed at a Parkland, Florida, high school nine months ago. It also came less than two weeks after a gunman massacred 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Democratic Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, in his first public appearance since winning office on Tuesday, lamented the violence that has come again to California.

“It’s a gun culture,” he said. “You can’t go to a bar or nightclub? You can’t go to church or synagogue? It’s insane is the only way to describe it. The normalization, that’s the only way I can describe it. It’s become normalized.”

President Donald Trump praised police for their “great bravery” in the attack and ordered flags flown at half-staff in honor of the victims.

Authorities searched Long’s home in Newbury Park, about 5 miles from the Borderline bar, for clues to what set him off.

“There’s no indication that he targeted the employees. We haven’t found any correlation,” the sheriff said. “Maybe there was a motive for this particular night, but we have no information leading to that at all.”

Long was in the Marines from 2008 to 2013, rose to the rank of corporal and served in Afghanistan in 2010-11 before he was honorably discharged, the military said. Court records show he married in 2009 and was divorced in 2013.

Authorities said he had no criminal record, but in April officers were called to his home, where deputies found him angry and acting irrationally. The sheriff said officers were told he might have PTSD because of his military service. A mental health specialist met with him and didn’t feel he needed to be hospitalized.