Two adults have been killed and two children wounded in a shooting outside a Las Vegas daycare centre.
The domestic-related shooting happened around 6:10 am Thursday in the parking lot area of the Kids Campus Learning Center in the city of North Las Vegas.
It was not clear whether the mother or father fired the shots or whether the 3-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy were intended targets, North Las Vegas police spokeswoman Ann Cavaricci said.
Cavaricci said the incident may have been a murder-suicide. She said the children were hospitalized in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries.
Witnesses say the mother was dropping off her children when the father arrived and the shooting started.
The motives behind the violence and the parents’ relationship status are still unknown.
Police say employees were on site as the facility was opening but there were no other children at the scene. No one else was hurt.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), firearms are the cause of death for more than 33,000 people in the United States every year, a number that includes accidental discharge, murder and suicides, which are on the increase.
The number of intentional homicides by guns was 11,208 in 2013, the last year for which US health authorities have statistics.
This is while the US Constitution’s Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms. Gun-rights groups, including the NRA gun lobby, argue that restrictions on gun purchases would not improve public safety.
Agencies/Canadajournal