A man shot dead two women in a church parking lot in Iowa on Thursday and then committed suicide, the US police said, in the latest in a series of recent mass shootings in the United States.
Nicholas Lenin, the deputy police chief for Storey County, said the shooting in Iowa occurred in front of Cornerstone Church east of Ames.
He added that the police found the three dead after arriving at the scene, noting that he was unable to determine the identities of the dead or determine the connection between them.
And the shooting in Iowa occurred shortly after a speech by US President Joe Biden on gun violence, in the wake of mass shootings in New York, Texas and Oklahoma in recent weeks.
Biden called on Congress to ban guns, expand the history of gun owners and implement other measures to control armaments, after a series of indiscriminate shootings that shocked American society in recent times.
He demanded a number of measures, which were opposed by Republicans in the Senate, including a ban on the sale of weapons and high-capacity cartridges, and if this is not possible, the minimum age for purchasing weapons should be raised to 21 from 18.
He also lobbied for the lifting of the immunity that protects arms manufacturers from criminal prosecution for violent crimes committed by people carrying their weapons.
"We can't let the American people down again," Biden said, urging Republicans in particular in the Senate to allow a vote on bills that include gun control measures.
He added that if Congress did not act on this, he believed the issue would be pivotal when voting in the midterm elections in November.
The National Rifle Association, an industry lobby group, said Biden's proposals would violate the rights of law-abiding gun owners, according to a statement.
The United States, which has a gun death rate higher than any other rich country, has been shaken in recent weeks by the indiscriminate shootings of 10 black residents of upstate New York, 19 children and two teachers in Texas, and two doctors, a receptionist and a patient in Oklahoma.
A large majority of American voters, Republicans and Democrats alike, support stronger gun control laws, but congressional Republicans and some moderate Democrats have blocked such legislation for years.