One dead in religious retreat gun attack

One person was killed and three others injured in a shooting at a Korean Christian retreat centre in Southern California, officials said today.

The gunman was believed to be among those wounded in the incident at the Kkottongnae Retreat Camp in Temecula, about 85 miles (135km) south-east of Los Angeles.

Investigators were unsure what prompted the attack, sheriff’s spokesman Dennis Gutierrez said.

“We have some nuns that are very distraught,” he added.

Mr Gutierrez said at least two of the victims were critically injured.

Police and emergency crews converged on the rural area off Highway 79 after receiving reports at about 7pm yesterday that a gunman had shot his wife, said Mario Lopez, a spokesman with the California Highway Patrol.

He said one person was dead when they arrived and the other three were taken to hospital.

The retreat is one of four US branches of the Kkottongnae Brothers and Sisters of Jesus, a Catholic organisation dedicated to serving the poor and homeless. It was founded in the city of Cheongju, South Korea, by Father Oh Woong Jin in 1976.