Nevada IHOP Shooter Identified

(Newser) – Eyewitnesses are coming forward to talk about yesterday's horrific shooting at an IHOP in Carson City, Nevada. The gunman has been identified as 32-year-old Eduardo Sencion, and witnesses say he was carrying an AK-47, which he reloaded at least once, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. Three of the four people Sencion killed were uniformed National Guardsmen, and some witnesses believe he was targeting them—which would be ironic, since Sencion’s minivan bore a ribbon-shaped “Support Our Troops” decal.

Others believe Sencion was just firing randomly. After getting out of his minivan, he shot a woman in the parking lot, then walked into the restaurant. “All of a sudden we heard loud pops,” says one witness. Someone yelled, “Get under the table,” and many did so—one woman then knocked over a toddler’s high-chair to protect the child. “There was debris floating through the air,” she recalls. Several escaped out the back. Then Sencion left the IHOP and began shooting up other businesses. “I had my pistol,” says the owner of a restaurant next door, but “I wasn’t going up against an automatic rifle.” Afterward, police bussed at least 30 witnesses to the station for interviews.