California shooting

A lone gunman sprayed bullets from a car in a drive-by shooting late Friday which killed at least six people in southern California.

Seven people were also wounded in what the authorities described as a "premeditated atrocity" in the town of Isla Vista near the campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara.

"This incident appears to be a mass murder situation," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told a televised news conference. "We currently have seven people confirmed dead, that includes the suspect and six victims."

The sheriff also said deputies twice exchanged fire with the gunman before his vehicle crashed and he was found dead inside from a gunshot wound to the head.

"We have obtained and are currently analyzing both written and videotaped evidence that suggests this atrocity was a premeditated mass murder," Brown said, describing the shooting as "obviously the work of a madman."

"Old Western shoot-out"

Witnesses described seeing a black BMW car speeding through the streets spraying bullets at people and other targets in the college town.

One witness, Xavier Mozejewski, told a California-based television station that the incident was like an "old Western shoot-out."

College student Brad Martin also told a student newspaper that his girlfriend was "absolutely hysterical" after being approached by the gunman, who was holding a weapon she wasn't sure was real at first.

"She said the next second he raised it up to her face... and she turned around and started running. That's when she heard "bang, bang, bang" right behind her as she was running," he told the Daily Nexus.

It is unclear as to whether the suspected gunman was killed in a police shoot-out or died from a self-inflicted wound.

It's believed that the suspect, who hasn't been identified, carried out the mass shooting alone.

lw/tj (AFP, Reuters)