LOS ANGELES, April 30 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were shot by a beer-drinking gunman at a pool in the U.S. city of San Diego on Sunday night, with the shooter killed by police later, KFMB-TV reported.

Several victims are in critical condition as a result of the attack at 6 p.m. local time (0100GMT, May 1), according to police.

A witness said he heard the gunfire and saw the shooter "sitting, drinking a beer in one hand with a gun out in the other" in the pool area of an apartment complex in San Diego, California.

The shooter, described as a white male armed with a gun, was fatally shot by three police officers who had arrived at the scene, said San Diego police chief Shelley Zimmerman.

It is not immediately known if the suspect was a resident of the apartment complex. The reason for the mass shooting remains unclear.