A man with an AK-47 assault rifle shot a group of five uniformed National Guard members eating breakfast at a Nevada IHOP on Tuesday, killing three of them and another person in a hail of gunfire.
The Guardsmen killed were two men and a woman, the last of whom died at an area hospital, Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong said Tuesday night. Another woman also was shot and killed.
The suspect, 32-year-old Eduar do Sencion of Carson City, shot himself after he left the restaurant and later died at a hospital. Seven people were wounded in the attack at a strip mall near a casino and department store in the state’s capital.
The gunman’s motive was unclear.
Furlong said Sencion entered the front doors of the IHOP and traveled “all the way through the restaurant to the back area” before opening fire.
“Obviously with five out of the 11 victims uniformed National Guardsmen, that has taken a priority interest in our investigation,” Furlong said.
Furlong said Sencion was born in Mexico and was in the U.S. under a valid passport. He said investigators found another rifle and a pistol in the minivan Sencion drove to the restaurant.
Sencion worked at his family’s business in South Lake Tahoe, was not in the military and had no known affiliations with anyone at the restaurant, Furlong said. He also had no criminal history.
Sencion’s family raised concerns about his mental health in interviews with investigators, Furlong said.
Ralph Swagler, the owner of a nearby barbecue restaurant, described a frantic scene in which the gunman pulled up and immediately shot a man on a motorcycle, then charged into the IHOP, where the Guard members were meeting.
Swagler said he grabbed his own weapon but it was too late.
“I wish I had shot at him, but 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.”
At a Reno hospital, service members gathered, waiting for word on those killed and hurt.
“You go a whole tour in Afghanistan and no one is shot. And you go to IHOP and several are shot,” said 31-year-old Sgt. 1st Class Cameron Anderson of Reno, a Nevada Army National Guard member.
