A man who shot dead three men in the central Californian town of Fresno said he “wanted known for killing as many white people as possible”, before being arrested by police.
Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, was motivated by hate and was not connected to extremism, even though he said "Allahu akbar" during his arrest, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said.
"This is solely based on race, and it had nothing to do with terrorism in spite of the statement he made," Chief Dyer said at a news conference today.
Muhammad, who is African-American, fired 16 rounds in one minute at four places within a block about 10.45am (local time), shooting men who appeared to be going about their day
He walked up to a pick-up truck and shot a man sitting in the passenger seat. The driver of the truck, who is Latino, sped off to the police department for help, but his passenger, a 34-year-old Caucasian man, died.
Muhammad then shot at another person and missed. He aimed at a third, killing the 37-year-old on the footpath as he walked with a bag of groceries in a neighbourhood lined with tall trees, authorities said.
The final victim, 58, was gunned down in the parking lot of a charity building.
Chief Dyer said Muhammad approached a vehicle in between shootings, but he spared the lives of two women who were in the car with a child. The women were Latina, he said.
"These individuals who were chosen today did not do anything to deserve what they got," he said earlier in the day.
"These were unprovoked attacks by an individual that was intent on carrying out homicides today. He did that."
Police had put out a news release hours before the shootings Tuesday, stating that Muhammad was armed and dangerous and was also wanted in the shooting death of a security guard at a Motel 6 last week.
The guard, 25-year-old Carl Williams, was Caucasian.
Muhammad told officers at his arrest that he was the guy they were looking for, Chief Dyer said, and that he wanted to be known as “someone who killed many white people”, and not just a security guard.
"I did it. I shot them," Muhammad told officers.
With AAP