Authorities said that four people were discovered shot dead inside an RV in a small Mojave Desert village over the weekend. This latest act of heinous murder keeps the United States on a record pace for mass homicides this year.
Authorities announced Monday that a man and three women were the victims. According to Lori Meza, a spokeswoman for the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, there were no immediate arrests but two people were being sought for questioning as “persons of interest” and there was no ongoing threat to other residents in the Mojave unincorporated community.
According to a database kept by USA Today in collaboration with Northeastern University, it is the 19th mass murder of 2023, the most until the end of April of any year since at least 2006. When four or more victims other than the attacker are killed, it is considered a mass killing.
With about one every week, this year has broken the previous record. One of the most recent acts of violence involved a 38-year-old man who, on Monday, fled after killing five neighbors in a small Texas town after being ordered to cease shooting in his yard at night while a baby tried to sleep.
The four victims were discovered with gunshot wounds to their upper bodies by Kern County deputies who responded late Sunday night to a shooting call near Mojave, according to a statement from the Kern County Sheriff’s Office.
According to authorities, one of the women was declared dead at a hospital and three of them passed away immediately on the spot. The coroner’s office was to identify them and inform their families before disclosing their identities.
The office stated that detectives were “pursuing all investigative leads to identify and apprehend the suspect(s) responsible for this crime.”
Other information, such as a potential reason, was withheld at first.
Mojave, which has a population of 3,600, is located about 70 miles (113 kilometers) north of Los Angeles along an important rail line at the junction of two state highways on the western edge of the Mojave Desert.
In addition to wind farms on neighboring hills and the Mojave Air & Space Port, which houses facilities for aerospace firms like Virgin Galactic, the area has a history of gold and silver mining.
