A 67-year-old man killed seven people and critically injured another in a gun attack in the Californian coastal town of Half Moon Bay on Monday.

It is the second armed attack in California in just three days, killing several people.

On Saturday, a 72-year-old gunman shot and killed 11 people in the city of Monterey Park.

In both cases, the motive of the perpetrator has not yet been clarified.

Sofia Dreisbach

North American political correspondent based in Washington.

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The attacker in Half Moon Bay first shot dead four people at a mushroom farm late Monday afternoon.

He then drove to a transport company, where he killed three other people.

According to the police, children also witnessed the deadly attacks.

It was "unspeakable" that they had to witness this violence, said Sheriff Christina Corpus at a press conference on Monday evening.

However, there is no longer any danger to the community.

The perpetrator was arrested by police officers without resistance a good two hours after the crime after his vehicle was sighted in a police station parking lot.

Already 70 dead from heavy gun attacks

He carried out the attack with a semi-automatic pistol and is said to have acted alone.

According to the police, the perpetrator is cooperative;

a Mandarin-speaking officer was brought in for his questioning.

According to authorities, the man, like some of those killed, worked at the mushroom farm and lived in Half Moon Bay.

The owners of the family business told the television station CNN that they were shocked, but knew "neither the shooter nor his motives".

Nothing was initially known about the identity of the victims.

The small town of Half Moon Bay with around 11,000 inhabitants is located around 50 kilometers south of San Francisco.

With the two incidents killing 18 on California's West Coast, the number of serious gun attacks in America has risen to 39 since the beginning of the year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

A total of 70 people are said to have been killed.

The website counts attacks with at least four dead or injured - excluding the attacker - as so-called mass shootings, which occur again and again because of the liberal gun laws in the United States.

California is one of the states with the strictest gun laws, prohibiting the possession of "military assault rifles".

The governor of the western state, Gavin Newsom, spoke on Monday of "one tragedy after another".

When he heard about the second gun attack, he was at the hospital speaking to those injured in the Monterey Park attack.

There needs to be a gun law reform at the federal level.

President Joe Biden also called on Congress to act after Tuesday's second attack.

A ban on offensive weapons must be passed immediately by both chambers.

However, it is unlikely that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will approve such a bill.