Gunman kills four at Nevada restaurant
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 15 years AGO
<p>With bullet holes seen in a window, officers look for evidence at the scene of a shooting at an IHOP restaurant in Carson City, Nev. on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011. Seven people were wounded after a gunman opened fire at the restaurant, authorities said. (AP Photo/Cathleen Allison)</p>
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - A gunman wielding an AK-47 opened fire on a table of uniformed National Guard members at an IHOP restaurant on Tuesday in an outburst of violence that killed five people, wounded seven others and put Nevada's capital city on high alert.
Five Nevada National Guard troops sitting together at the back of the restaurant were shot - three of them fatally. Another woman was also killed, and the gunman, 32-year-old Eduardo Sencion of Carson City, shot himself in the head and died at a hospital.
The shooter's motive was unclear, but family members said he had mental issues. He had never been in the military and had no known affiliation with anyone inside the restaurant.
Witnesses and authorities described a frantic scene in the bustling business district, in which the shooter pulled into the large complex of retail stores and shops just before 9 a.m. in a blue minivan with a yellow "Support Our Troops" sticker on the back. He got out and immediately shot a woman near a motorcycle, a witness said.
Ralph Swagler said he grabbed his own weapon, but said it was too late to stop the shooter, who charged into the IHOP through the front doors.
"I wish I had shot at him when he was going in the IHOP," said Swagler, who owns Locals BBQ & Grill. "But when he came at me, when somebody is pointing an automatic weapon at you - you can't believe the firepower, the kind of rounds coming out of that weapon."
The gunman went all the way to the back of the restaurant to the back area and opened fire, Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong said.