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CNN Live At Daybreak

35-Year-Old Gunman Suspected of Killing 3 and Wounding 2

Aired September 06, 2001 - 07:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Simi Valley, California, are searching for a 35-year-old gunman suspected of killing three people and wounding two others. Police have identified the suspect as Reynaldo Herrera Rodriguez.

As CNN's Charles Feldman reports, the victims apparently knew their attacker.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A lot of cops live in Simi Valley. Perhaps that is why the FBI this year ranked it the most crime free city of 100,000 or more, which may make Wednesday's shooting rampage all the more horrific. It happened in this house when six people who all lived there were apparently taken by surprise by a young gunman, a gunman police say the residents apparently knew.

Three people, including two children, were killed, two others shot and injured, and a third treated for injuries he got after jumping from a window.

LT. REX JONES, SIMI VALLEY POLICE: The officers are coming out saying that the scene is devastating, obviously. You have kids involved and you have it throughout the house.

FELDMAN: A friend of one of the children killed told reporters the true dimensions of the tragedy slowly dawned on him as he watched police cars rushing by.

UNIDENTIFIED FRIEND: And then I started to get scared. I'm like it's in Ricky's neighborhood. Then I see his older brother, Reo (ph), which that's what we call him, going to the ambulance because I was on my balcony and I was looking down there. And Reo was there and I see him onto a stretcher, you know, eyes closed, probably unconscious. And then I started thinking, you know, that's Ricky's house and I just got really scared.

FELDMAN: Police say there are eyewitnesses to the crime who were outside the house when the shooting happened, a shooting that is bound to make the residents of this so-called safe city feel a lot less secure.

Charles Feldman, CNN, Los Angeles. (END VIDEOTAPE)

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