A gunman dressed in black killed four people in a string of shootings through the California town of Santa Monica on Friday before he was shot dead by police in a community college library, law enforcement officials said. Five other people were wounded, one of them critically.

As the gunman lay dead on a sidewalk outside the Santa Monica College library, a second individual was taken into custody near the campus and described by police as a 'person of interest' in the case. He was later released. The police also said they now believe the alleged gunman acted alone.

Police initially said six people were killed by the gunman, who was described only as a man between the ages of 25 and 30.

Officials said the discrepancy occurred because of conflicting witness accounts. They added that one of the wounded remains in critical condition.

The killing spree marked the latest in string of high-profile mass shootings over the past year, including a December attack in Connecticut that killed 20 children and six adults at an elementary school and a shooting last July at a suburban Denver movie theater that killed 12 people.
Those attacks have helped reignite a national debate over gun violence in America that spurred Obama and his fellow Democrats to push for expanded background checks for gun buyers - an initiative defeated in the U.S. Senate.

Santa Monica Police said the carnage began at a home ea.