Three persons were killed when a man went on a shooting spree in the US's California state, a media report has said.

The incident occurred on Tuesday at 10.45 a.m. in downtown Fresno when the man while shouting "Allahu Akbar" shot a person in a PG&E utility truck, then a second person on Fulton Street and a third one in the parking lot of Catholic Charities, media reported.

Police said the man, identified as Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, also pointed his gun at two women and a toddler in a car but did not shoot.

According to police, Muhammad wanted to kill as many people as possible after a warrant was released for his arrest in the murder of a motel security guard last week.

Police do not suspect the shooting spree was tied to terrorism and was "solely based on race" as all the victims were white males.

Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said Muhammad knew he was being searched for and he "decided he was going to kill more people".

According to Dyer, Muhammad surrendered to officers at the scene.

"These individuals who were chosen today (Tuesday) did not do anything to deserve what they got," Dyer said. "These were unprovoked attacks by an individual that was intended to carry out homicides. He did that."
 

All three shooting locations were close to each other. Around 16 shots were fired during the shooting spree, police said.

"What we know is that this was a random act of violence," Dyer said. "There is every reason to believe he acted alone."

Muhammad went by the nickname "Black Jesus" and has made posts against white people and the government on his Facebook page, media reported.

Muhammad now faces four counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder, according to court records.

He has a criminal history that includes arrests on weapons, drugs and false imprisonment charges and making terror threats, police said.