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By Steven Frank
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Two people were killed and two others were injured in a shooting at a California state beach early Monday after the park had closed for the night, authorities said during a press briefing.
Law enforcement responded to reports of multiple shots fired shortly before 2 a.m. on Jetty Road by Moss Landing State Beach in Monterey County. Two people with apparent gunshot wounds were found dead at the scene, according to the Monterey County Sheriff's Office.
A third person was transported from the scene to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, while another person arrived at a hospital suffering from a gunshot wound. Authorities initially said they did not know that person's condition.
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Investigators have not released the identities or ages of the two people who were killed. Authorities also have not disclosed a possible motive or publicly identified a suspect. Officials said the shooting had not yet been classified as a homicide as investigators continued working to determine the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
Authorities said there was no active threat to the surrounding community and asked anyone with information about the shooting to contact the Monterey County Sheriff's Office.
When contacted by Newsweek on Monday evening, Andrew Rosas, public information officer for the Monterey County Sheriff's Office, said that "there are no additional details at this time, and nothing has changed since the press statement was made."
Shooting Happened After Beach Closed
The shooting occurred hours after the beach closed at sunset. Mike Dippel, a chief park ranger with California State Parks, told reporters at the press briefing that "these people were here after hours."
Investigators said they do not yet know whether the individuals involved knew one another or why they were at the beach at that time.
Deputies were also examining another location in the area that could potentially be connected to the shooting, Rosas said at the briefing but stressed that investigators had not determined whether it was related.
"We are processing that out of an abundance of caution as part of our investigation," he said. "At this time, we do not know if that's related to this incident."
"This is an active scene, and they are in the process of trying to determine exactly what happened," he added.
Local Officials React to Shooting
State Parks Police closed Jetty Road and the beach at the request of the sheriff's office as detectives processed the scene. Moss Landing is located on California's central coast between Monterey and Santa Cruz.
John Laird, a California state senator whose district includes the area, said in a statement that the violence had brought "unspeakable horror" to the Central Coast.
"The pain and suffering of all those impacted is impossible to measure, and my heart goes out to everyone," he said.
California Assemblymember Dawn Addis also responded to the shooting, calling the violence "heinous" and saying her office had been in contact with the Monterey County Sheriff's Office.
"My heart is with those who are affected by this heinous violence," Addis said. "We must continue to work to end gun violence, and I am committed to doing so."
Newsweek*’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.* Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Anthony Murray and Steve Frank.
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