Mass shootingWhat we know about Ian David Long, the California gunman

Police identified the gunman who shot and killed twelve people and injured about twenty at a bar in Thousand Oaks, California, as 28 year-old Ian David Long.

Long was found dead from self-inflicting shots. The Borderline Bar and Grill, known for live country and western music peefromances, is a popular for students from neighboring colleges, among them California Lutheran University, California State University/Channel Islands, Pepperdine University, and Moorpark College. Thousand Oaks, a wealthy town of 130,000 residents is located about forty miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Thousand Oaks frequently ranks as one of the safest cities in the country. Before last night, the city of 130,000 northwest of Los Angeles had just five shootings during the past five years, according to Gun Violence Archive, resulting in a total of four deaths and two injuries.

The Borderline Bar and Grill rampage was the 307th mass shooting in 2018, according to Gun Violence Archive.

Here is what we know of Long, based om media reports:

Mental health officials visited his home earlier this year
Ventura county sheriff Geoff Dean said that in April 2018, sheriff’s deputies were called to Long’s home in Newbury Park, five miles west of Thousand Oaks. They found Long “somewhat irate, acting a little irrationally,” Dean said. The deputies called in mental health specialists, but the specialists, after evaluation, determined Long’s mental state did not require him to be detained or involuntary hospitalized for further assessment.

One of Long’s neighbors in the nearby town of Newbury Park told ABC 7 that Long suffered from PTSD, adding, “I don’t know what he was doing with a gun.” According to the The Los Angeles Times, Long drove his mother’s car to the bar.

Long was a former marine
Dean said Long was a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. The Pentagon confirmed that Long was on active duty with the Marines from August 2008 to March 2013. The Marine Corps told CNN that Long served in Afghanistan between November 2010 and June 2011. He was a machine gunner.

The gun was legally purchased
California authorities said the .45 caliber Glock handgun Long used was legally purchased. Dean noted that Long had used an extended magazine, which is illegal in California, during the shooting. The extended magazine allowed Long to fire more rounds before needing to be reloaded.

Motive unclear
Dean said officials had been unable to find a connection between Long and the Borderline bar. “We have no idea what the motive was at this point,” Dean said. Neighbors told local news channel ABC6 that Long lived with his mother, who had expressed to them her concerns over her son’s behavior and mental state.

Long was assaulted in a different Thousand Oaks bar
In January 2015 Long was “the victim of a battery” at a bar in Thousand Oaks, Dean said. Long had received two minor traffic citations in recent years, Dean said. One came after he was involved in a traffic collision.