BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (FOX 11 / AP) - A gunman went on a rampage, killing his wife and four other people before shooting himself to death, California authorities said.
Kern County sheriff's Lt. Mark King said Thursday there were "strong indications" of a domestic violence motive in the Wednesday evening rampage. But he said that was still being verified and did not release further details.
The victims were shot at and near a trucking company and then at a residence in Bakersfield, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Los Angeles.
Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood told reporters the shootings were not random.
"Obviously, there is some type of situation that caused the husband to be extremely upset," he said. "I'm pretty comfortable (saying) there will be a connection between all these players."
The man first showed up at the company with his wife shortly before 5:30 p.m. where he confronted another man.
"The suspect, the husband, shot the person at the trucking company and then turned and shot his wife" and then chased and shot another man who showed up, Youngblood said.
KERO-TV, citing information from family members, reported that 57-year-old Eliseo Garcia and his daughter, 32-year-old Laura Garcia, were the victims killed at the home.
After the shooting at the Garcia home, the gunman carjacked a woman who was driving her child. The woman and child escaped and the man drove to a highway where a sheriff's deputy saw him, Youngblood said.
The gunman saw the deputy and pulled into a parking lot. When the deputy confronted him at gunpoint, the man shot himself in the chest, the sheriff said.
The man's identity was not immediately made public.
David Bunting, who lives two doors from the Garcia home, said Laura Garcia was a mother of four and her father was a self-employed truck driver who always was with his grandkids when not working, often driving them around on his golf cart.
"He's a really nice guy. I can't say enough good things about him," Bunting said. "It's kind of a shock because of the kind of a person he was."
He said most of the large Garcia family was home at the time of the shooting are devastated and in shock.
He said Eliseo Garcia and his wife had four grown children, including a daughter who was killed in a car accident a few years ago.
A single-engine plane crashed Monday inside the grounds of the California Rehabilitation Center on Fifth Street in Norco, triggering a fire, but no prisoners or staff were reported to be injured.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the Northrop N9M aircraft crashed around 12:15 p.m.
There was no immediate word on the condition of the pilot.