Reproduction/Twitter @MikeSington 05/15/2022
Ambulance in front of Laguna Woods Church in California
A day after ten people were killed by a gunman at a market in Buffalo, New York, a fresh shooting Sunday at a church in California left one dead and five injured, officials said.
All of the victims were adults and were taken to a hospital, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said on Twitter. In addition to the victim found dead at the Geneva Presbyterian Church, four of the victims were seriously injured and one was slightly injured.
According to the sheriff, one person was arrested by police and a gun was seized after the church shooting in the town of Laguna Woods. It remains unclear whether it was an attack or the circumstances of the incident.
“No one should be afraid to go to your house of worship. Our thoughts are with the victims, the community and everyone affected by this tragic event,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Twitter, adding he is monitoring the situation.
Authorities responded to reports of a shooting around 1:26 p.m. (1726 GMT), according to sheriff’s spokesman Carrie Braun, quoted by the New York Times.
“My understanding is that all of this took place within the church,” she said.
“We’re trying to find out what kind of service is running.”
Braun also claimed that about 30 people witnessed the incident. It is believed that the majority of people in the church are of Taiwanese descent, the spokeswoman added.
She also said investigators are looking into whether the case may have been a hate crime and whether the shooter was known to churchgoers, among other things.
This was at least the second mass shooting of the weekend in the United States, which has been plagued by gun violence in recent years. In Buffalo, New York, an 18yearold white man opened fire on Saturday at a convenience store in a mostly black neighborhood, killing ten and wounding three in what authorities described as a purely racist attack.
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