A gunman blasted shots through the wall of a municipal building in northeastern Pennsylvania during a meeting on Monday and then barged into the room and continued firing, killing four people, before he was tackled by a local official and shot with his own gun, a witness said.
The shooting, which injured at least two other people, happened shortly before 7:30 p.m. during Ross Township's monthly meeting, Monroe County emergency management director Guy Miller said.
The gunman, who appeared to be "shooting randomly," was captured and was treated at a hospital, which was placed on lockdown, he said. The shooter later was released into police custody, the hospital said.
In another incident, the US police has arrested a man on suspicion of opening fire outside a shop during a pre-dawn gang brawl, killing three people and injuring four others in California.
Giovanni Pacheco was taken into custody hours after the shooting and booked into Monterey County Jail on three counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder, Salinas police said.
The 1:30 a.m. shooting happened after a fight inside Taco's Choice restaurant spilled outside, police said. It was the latest in a spate of recent violence.
Cmdr. Dave Shaw said the shooting occurred after two different groups in the restaurant started brawling.
The conflict moved into a parking lot, where it grew into "a pretty decent-sized fight" before someone pulled a handgun and began firing into the crowd, Shaw said. The four other victims, including a 53-year-old woman who was shot multiple times, were expected to survive.
Salinas, a farming town in Central California, has seen an uptick in violent crime in recent weeks, Shaw said. There have been 14 killings so far this year, including 10 in the past 12 days. Last year, there were 22, including at least 11 that were confirmed to be gang-related.
The taco shop shooting occurred just hours after a 23-year-old Salinas man was shot and killed after stepping outside of his apartment to make a phone call. Shaw said two people approached him and opened fire. No arrests have been made.
Salinas, a city of 150,000, has long battled gang violence and frequently has one of the state's highest gang-related homicide rates.
NTJ/BA