Family: Shooter was ill

CARSON CITY -- Within hours after a man stormed an IHOP restaurant with an AK-47 assault rifle and shot 11 people, detectives learned from family members that the gunman had been diagnosed as a schizophrenic, new court records show.

Eduardo Sencion's sister-in-law told authorities he had been taking medication and may have been the driver of a blue 2002 Chrysler minivan found parked outside the restaurant, Douglas County sheriff's Sgt. Mark Munoz told Carson City Justice of the Peace Tom Armstrong.

The information about Sencion's mental state came to light as investigators sought search warrants for his two vehicles and the homes of his parents and brother after the Sept. 6 shooting.

In the video affidavit, Carson City sheriff's Detective Dave LeGros told the court that officers wanted to search the homes and vehicles for weapons, ammunition and any other items that could show a possible link to the deadly rampage.

Sheriff Ken Furlong said Wednesday that investigators were getting Sencion's medical records to confirm the diagnosis relayed by the family.

Authorities have not yet released information on the rifle used in the shootings or another rifle and pistol found in Sencion's vehicle.

Furlong said he was awaiting a report from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Three Nevada National Guard members and a woman from South Lake Tahoe, Calif., died in the shooting. Sencion then shot himself in the head and died in the parking lot, ending the eight-minute siege. Seven others were wounded.

LeGros said officers feared they might find more victims at the family home, but they found Sencion's sister-in-law unharmed. Two children also were in the home and were unhurt.

LeGros said detectives were seeking any type of journals or "electronic storage devices which may possess a type of memoir or reason why this terrible act occurred."

Sencion's sister-in-law told officers that he lived there almost three years before moving this year to his parents' home.

Officers found no one home at the parents' house but reported finding more firearms and "boxes upon boxes" of ammunition suitable for a weapon such as the one used in the shooting.