Seven people were killed Monday near San Francisco in two shootings that appear to have been perpetrated by the same individual, local news outlets said, with local authorities saying a suspect has been arrested.
“The suspect has been arrested. There is no longer any danger for the population at this time,” the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, which includes the town of Half Moon Bay where the tragedy took place, wrote on Twitter.
A press conference first announced for 02:00 GMT had still not taken place.
The sheriff’s office previously wrote that its officers were responding to “a shooting that resulted in multiple casualties.”
The two shootings took place on farms close to each other, local stations affiliated with ABC and NBC said.
According to ABC, an eighth victim is seriously injured.
The victims are Chinese agricultural workers, according to a local elected official quoted by NBC.
The arrest of the suspect, referred to by local ABC and NBC stations as 67-year-old Zhao Chunli, was filmed by both stations.
An Asian man, dressed in a gray vest with red sleeves and a light gray cap, is pinned to the ground and handcuffed, then searched, before being escorted by several police officers.
According to NBC, the man was spotted in his vehicle in the parking lot of the Half Moon Bay police station, and a gun was found in his car.
This new killing comes less than 48 hours after an Asian shooter killed 11 people in a dance hall near Los Angeles, which California Governor Gavin Newsom did not fail to deplore.
“I am in the hospital to meet victims of a mass shooting there when I am pulled away to inform me of another shooting. This time in Half Moon Bay. Tragedy after tragedy,” the Democrat tweeted.
Joe Biden has also been informed, his spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Twitter. The American president “has asked federal law enforcement to provide all necessary assistance to local authorities,” she said.