Six people have been killed in linked shootings in the city of Bakersfield in California on Wednesday, said police.
A man and his wife drove to a trucking business in the city, where the man shot dead two men and his wife.
The man then drove to another residence where he shot dead two more people, according to BBC.
After hijacking a vehicle with a woman and child in it, the man was then confronted by a deputy and shot himself dead. Police are still investigating the motives behind the killings.
Donny Youngblood of the Kern County Sheriff's Department said deputies were called to the trucking business after reports of shots being fired at 17:20 local time (00:20 GMT) .
Authorities were working to determine "why this started and why so many players were involved and the connection because obviously these are not random shootings," he said.
The entire incident took place over 10 to 15 minutes, he said.
"This is the new normal, if you look across the country," he said, describing the incident as a mass shooting.
"Six people lost their lives in a very short period of time."
The deputies learned that the husband had confronted a man and then shot both him and his own wife. Another man then appeared at the scene and the husband shot at him, before pursuing him and shooting him dead.
The husband then drove to a residence on Breckenridge Road and shot dead two people.
After being carjacked in their car, the woman and child inside managed to escape.
The man pulled over after a deputy confronted him with a firearm and then shot himself dead.
The names of the victims have not been released, but they were all from the Bakersfield area, some 90 miles (145km) north of Los Angeles, police said.
