Nevada National Guardsmen Among Four Killed After Gunman Opens Fire on Nevada Restaurant

A gunman opened fire on a Carson City, NV International House of Pancakes restaurant, killing four people and wounding seven before turning the gun on himself. Of the 12 people the gunman shot, five were uniformed members of the Nevada National Guard who were dining together.

Because of where the Guard members were sitting and the fact they were in uniform, investigators say it appears the shooter -- Eduardo Sencion, 32, a Carson City resident who worked in nearby Tahoe and had no criminal history -- could have targeted them, Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong said this evening.

"Information suggests at this point in time that the National Guard members were sitting all the way into the restaurant along the southeast side and that he entered through the front doors and traveled all the way through the restaurant to the back area," Furlong said.

"Obviously when five out of 11 of the victims are uniformed National Guard members, that's taking a priority interest in our agency," he said.

Investigators are still trying to determine what motive there might have been for the shooting rampage, the sheriff said.

"There has been some suggestion by his family members that there is some mental health issues that we are going to have to look into," he said.

Sencion allegedly walked into the restaurant shortly before 9 a.m. brandishing an AK47 and started shooting, then ended it by shooting himself in the head, police said. He was taken to a hospital where he died three hours later.

Carson City Chief Deputy Jack Freer said that the people wounded at the IHOP were taken to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno and a hospital in Carson City. He said their conditions were unknown.

Sencion worked at a family-run market in nearby Tahoe and was described by coworkers and quiet and helpful and showing no apparent signs of trouble. FBI agents were interviewing coworkers and searching Sencion's residence on Thursday, removing two computers. According to reports in the Nevada Appeal, Sencion had a US Passport that expired in 2002.

[With the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 approaching as well as the 2009 shootings at Little Rock, AR and Ft Hood, TX targeting US Soldiers in mind, it isn't beyond the pale to have considered some sort of radical Islam element to this shooting- NANESB!]

A pair of funds for the victims of the shootings as well as their families have been established- one through the Carson Medical Group and the other through the Nevada Military Support Alliance.