US gunman kills family in rampage Safety first: A policeman leads children who were on a field trip out of Santa Monica College after a shooting in the area. A black-clad gunman killed at least four people in a shooting rampage in California, before police shot him dead in a college library, officials say. Wearing a tactical vest, the assailant began by killing his father and brother in a burnt-out house on Friday before a random string of slayings in Santa Monica, only a few kilometres from an event attended by US President Barack Obama. One witness described how the gunman, a white man aged 25 to 30 carrying an ammunition belt and a semi-automatic rifle, shot a motorist at point-blank range before hijacking another vehicle. Police revised the death toll late on Friday, telling journalists that five including the gunman were killed, down from earlier reports of seven. Five more were wounded, including one critically and one who was in "serious but stable condition," said Sergeant Richard Lewis. Another suspect was taken into custody but soon released after the shootings, which occurred as Mr Obama was speaking at a political fund-raiser nearby in the oceanfront city, just west of Los Angeles. At this time, we believe it's a single gunman. That part of it has been resolved," Sergeant Lewis said, adding that the coroner was still working on confirming his identity. The shooting is the latest in an all-too regular succession of such rampages, which fuel the gun control debate in America. They follow last year's massacre of 20 schoolchildren in Connecticut, and the slaying of 12 moviegoers in a theatre in Colorado. The incident apparently began with the shootings in a nearby house, which was then set on fire. The Los Angeles Times reported that two bodies found in the burnt-out home were those of the gunman's father and brother. A witness who lives opposite the house told KTLA 5 television she heard gunfire and rushed out of her house to see a man who had apparently just opened fire inside or on the house, which was beginning to burn. "There was a guy standing on the street in front of my house, in full SWAT gear, with a belt full of ammunition and a semi-automatic rifle," said the woman. The gunman then carjacked a vehicle, and a short time later opened fire on a bus and other vehicles, before heading into the Santa Monica College, according to media reports. Nearby schools and campuses were put on lockdown, police said, amid confusion over whether an additional gunman could be at large. In all, six people - all women - were taken to two hospitals, including two in critical condition, one of whom died, according to Dr Marshall Morgan, head of emergency medicine at the UCLA Medical Centre.