A NEVADA GUNMAN has killed four people, before turning his weapon on himself, in a morning gun attack in the Carson City.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Eduardo Sencion, 32, drove down a shopping plaza in the city centre armed with an AK47 assault rifle, and shot a woman riding on a motorcycle, apparently indiscriminately and without motive.

He then stormed into an IHOP restaurant, walked to the back of the eatery where five National Guard officers were eating breakfast, and opened fire.

All five of the officers were wounded, with three of them dying from their injuries.

Sencion is then reported to have left the restaurant, firing indiscriminately at other businesses and eateries in the shopping plaza before shooting himself in the head.

The New York Times quoted the city sheriff Ken Furlong who said that while no motive had yet been established, it appeared Sencion had actively sought out the National Guard members once he had entered the IHOP restaurant.

Aside from the five fatalities, eight people were wounded, including a woman who was caught in the line of fire between Sencion and one of the Guardsmen.

The sheriff’s department said Sencion had a history of mental illness, but had no prior criminal history or any history of military involvement. He had filed for bankruptcy in 2009.

State governor Brian Sandoval told Fox News that the incident appears isolated, but said he understood there had been a ‘high level’ of cooperation and efficiency among state policing and security agencies.

The gunman’s brother said he could not suggest any motive for the attack.