Uh-oh, the evil “military-style rifle” was involved. Was it identified? Probably a single-shot .22.
According to Fox News, the killer was armed with a .38-caliber revolver, a 12-gauge shotgun, and a .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle. The Bushmaster is the same make and caliber semiautomatic rifle as the one used in the Newtown school massacre.
If you listen to the radio transmissions from the scene, it is clear that the guy used the rifle to shoot at the first responders as soon as they arrived, from behind a berm across the street from the fire, so he set them up in a trap.
It was a Bushmaster. I'll give the police and press credit here. In this article they avoided reporting this as a "deadly, highpowered, extra-triple high capacity automatic assault rifle," which is the verbiage typically used. I'm ok with referring to a Bushmaster as a "military style rifle"; That's essentially what it is. A Springield, a 98 Mauser, a Garand, or M-1 Carbine could also be characterized as "military style rifles."
From what I've heard, the chief of police's first impulse was to blame the killer, stating he should never have been released, and (to my knowledge) didn't blame the rifle. either the chief and press involved here have their heads screwed on right, or we're making some progress.