13 people were killed in California

Nahla Abdel Moneim

The official authorities of the Thousand Oaks area in California, said on Thursday that 13 people, including Sheriff Sergeant Ron Helus, died in a shooting incident on Wednesday night at the “BorderLine Bar”.

The incident took place as Pepperdine University students were at the bar to celebrate the birthday of their colleague. A gunman opened fire inside the country western dance bar killing at least 13 victims were killed.

One eyewitness said the bomber was dressed in dark and disguised clothes, while media reports were conflicting about whether he died or managed to escape after his mission.

Although the security services have not yet been informed whether the incident was perpetrated by a terrorist group or by elements of the extreme right, Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean told US media that he had no reason to believe the shooting was connected to terrorism, “but we certainly will look at that option.”

It is worth mentioning that this attack is not the first of its kind. Nightclub in the United States have been targeted in the past few years, but the reasons of the attack have varied.

In early October 2017, the US authorities officially announced that a white American man named Stephen Baudek open fire from the balcony of his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel on nightclub goers in the state of Las Vegas. He killed 58 people and wounded 500 others. Daesh, the surprised everyone and  claimed responsibility for the bloody attack that night.

In addition, one person was killed and others injured after a similar shooting took place in March 2017 at the Camillo Club in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the northeast of the country. Security investigations then reported that the incident was not motivated by terrorism, but a quarrel between people in the nightclub.

But the most prominent and most obvious incident was on June 12, 2016, after a shootout by an Afghan-American named Omar Sadek Matin at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 50 people and injuring 53 others. Daesh then claimed responsibility for the attack.