US shooting: One dead, 4 wounded at California church

Geneva Presbyterian Church. Photo / Supplied

One person was killed and four others were critically wounded in a shooting in Sunday at a Southern California church, authorities said.

Deputies detained one person and recovered a weapon following the shooting at Geneva Presbyterian Church in the city of Laguna Woods, the Orange County Sheriff's Department said on Twitter.

A fifth injured person suffered minor injuries, officials said. All the victims were adults.

Geneva Presbyterian Church. Photo / Supplied

Federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were responding to the scene.

Laguna Woods was built as a senior living community and later became a city. More than 80 per cent of residents in the city of 18,000 people about 80km southeast of Los Angeles are at least 65.

The incident occurred in an area with a cluster of houses of worship, including Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist churches and a Jewish synagogue.

The shooting came a day after an 18-year-old man shot and killed 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.