For those lurkers who are not especially firearms literate, there is a custom gun manufacturer out there called SSK who makes high accuracy modifications to common hunting and target firearms, but it's extremely unlikely that this is what they're talking about.
More than likely, what was turned in was a Chinese "SKS" rifle, which is a very inexpensive but reliable, semi automatic firearm.
It fires an inexpensive round which is suitable for hunting everything from rabbits to Deer, and is considered one of the very best "bang's for the buck" in the firearms industry. It can do a wide variety of things effectively and do it on the cheap.
They aren't very pretty, but they get the job done.
In the meantime the police have apparently played this up, knowing full well that the reporters are a bunch of trained chimps who don't know any better.
The SKS is NOT, ans Assault weapon:
The SKS is NOT, ans Assault weapon.To journalists, every firearm is an "assault weapon," except for a few small firearms that are "Saturday night specials." To journalists, anything that falls into one category or the other should be banned.
The SKS is NOT, ans Assault weapon: SKS rifle - civilian modification It may be, depending on configuration, in California. "Assault Weapon" is a legal, not a technical, term. It's whatever the lawmakers say it is.
One with a removable magazine, as this one apparently was, *is* an assault weapon under CA law.