Ian David Long Identified As Thousand Oaks Shooting Suspect, Described As Heavily Tattooed White Man

Ian David Long has been identified as the Thousand Oaks shooting suspect who police say opened fire in a bar outside Los Angeles, killing at least 11 people.

Law enforcement early on Thursday identified the 29-year-old Long — initially identified as David Ian Long — as the gunman whose mass shooting shocked the small and normally quiet community outside of Los Angeles. The attack took place at the Borderline Bar and Grill, a country dance bar that at the time was packed with people for a “college night.” Police said Ian David Long killed a security guard before tossing smoke grenades and firing dozens of rounds into the crowd of people. As ABC News reported, the suspect was found dead in his car outside of the bar.

“The gunman was throwing smoke grenades all over the place,” witness John Hedge told Los Angeles news station KABC (via ABC News). “I saw him point to the back of the cash register and he just kept firing. I ran out the front door.”

Police have not yet released a motive for the attack or many details on gunman Ian David Long, though reports said he was a white man with heavy tattoos. As CNBC reported, the details point to a coordinated attack as the gunman wore dark clothing and had both weapons and smoke grenades with him.

“The gunman at the country dance bar was tall and wearing all black with a hood over his head and his face partly covered, witnesses told TV stations at the scene. He first fired on a person working the door, then appeared to open fire at random at the people inside, they said.”

Hedge described a chaotic scene, saying some people in the bar tried throwing chairs through windows to break them and give a way to escape.

Police said inside was just as chaotic.

“It’s a horrific scene in there,” Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean said during a press conference in the bar’s parking lot (via CNBC). “There’s blood everywhere.”

Among those killed was Sgt. Ron Helus, a 20-year veteran of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, who was first on the scene and took fire from the suspect.

The deadly shooting comes just days after a man who espoused anti-Semitic viewpoints online opened fire in a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing 11. And before that, an ardent supporter of Donald Trump mailed bombs to a number of top Democrats, CNN, and former government officials who had been critical of the president.

Police have not yet released further details on Thousand Oaks shooting suspect Ian David Long.