Two die as rifleman guns down ex-girlfriend

A MAN armed with an assault rifle stormed his former girlfriend's California home yesterday and shot four people, killing two, before being brought down by a sheriff's deputy.

The unnamed gunman was shot twice, once in the head, after he pointed his AR-47 at the deputy. There was no immediate word on the gunman's condition. The deputy was unhurt.

Inside the home in Hawaiian Gardens, south of Los Angeles, the deputy found the bodies of the man's ex-girlfriend and her 14-year-old brother.

Her father and mother are in critical condition in hospital.

Six other people were also in the house and fled when the shooting started.

"People jumped from windows and off the roof to escape," a sheriff's office spokesman said. "With those running out and the amount of shooting going on, he could have killed all ten people."

The spokesman said the gunman was distraught over the breakup and blamed the unnamed girl's family.

Undersheriff Larry Waldie said lives were saved because of the deputy's actions, noting the gunman had been carrying a petrol can and had apparently planned to shoot others and burn down the house.

Mr Waldie said the gunman first "shot his way into a side door" and shot the woman's father at the door. He then went through the house, shooting the mother, and then headed upstairs, where he killed his former girlfriend and her brother.