Multiple deaths in US warehouse shooting

Seoul : An unidentified assailant opened fire Thursday at a warehouse complex north of Baltimore, killing and wounding multiple people in the latest US mass shooting, authorities said. There were reports that the incident was a rare mass shooting by a woman, but police would not confirm the gender of the attacker, merely reporting that they were in a critical condition at a local hospital.   

“I can confirm multiple wounded and multiple fatalities,” Jeffrey Gahler, the sheriff of Harford County, Maryland, told reporters. US media said three people were killed and two others wounded in the incident, which unfolded around 9:00 am (1300 GMT) at a distribution center for the Rite Aid drugstore chain. Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital spokesman Raymond Fang said four adults had been brought in with gunshot wounds, according to local station WBAL-TV. Other victims were taken to Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware, it said. “The lone suspect in this incident is in custody and in critical condition at a local hospital,” Gahler said.

He said the assailant was apparently armed with a single handgun “and no shots (were) fired by any officers responding to the scene” -- most likely indicating that the shooter’s injuries were self-inflicted. “We do not believe there is an additional threat anywhere to the Harford County community,” Gahler added. Police, firefighters and other emergency responders arrived within minutes of receiving a call at 9:06 am. The incident is the latest in an epidemic of gun violence that has struck schools and workplaces almost at random across the United States.