A man killed four people during a stabbing rampage in Southern California before officers arrested him after finding his silver Mercedes parked outside a 7-Eleven, authorities said.
In addition to the people killed, the attacker left two others wounded in multiple crime scenes in Garden Grove and Santa Ana, police said.
The victims killed included two people at the suspect’s apartment complex, a 7-Eleven security guard and one more person at a Subway restaurant.
Apartment stabbings: 2 killed
The mayhem started Wednesday when police received a burglary call shortly after 4 p.m. local time, Garden Grove police Lt. Carl Whitney said. Two people said they’d come home and found their apartment burglarized.
As officers waited to respond to the apartment robbery, another call came in about 20 minutes later about a robbery at a bakery in Garden Grove in which an unknown amount of cash was taken.
The same suspect broke into the apartment then drove his Mercedes to the bakery, police said. From the bakery, he returned to the apartment, got into an altercation and fatally stabbed two people, Whitney said.
The suspect lived in the same apartment complex and it’s unclear whether he knew the victims. At the time, officers did not know that the apartment and bakery incidents were connected.
Gas station and business: 2 wounded
Just after 6 p.m., officers got a robbery siren alarm at an insurance business in Garden Grove. The suspect had stabbed a woman at the business, stolen money and taken off, police said. “This female employee was very brave. This guy was armed with knives — she fought as best as she could,” Whitney said.
By then, officers had talked to several witnesses and realized it was the same suspect involved in the previous incidents. They sent out an alert on his car as undercover detectives searched parking lots and nearby streets.
Shortly after, police got another call of a man stabbed in the back while pumping gas and his nose nearly slashed off by the same suspect.
“Again, multiple scenes going on at the same time,” Whitney said. “I’ve worked here for 30 years. This is the first time I’ve ever seen something like this where we have a suspect kill four people in one day and attack other people that are just innocent victims. It’s pure evil.”
The woman and the man were hospitalized with serious injuries and are expected to survive, police said.
Attacks at stores: 2 more killed
Witnesses told officers the Mercedes was last seen headed toward Santa Ana and undercover detectives started monitoring the streets.
They saw the car parked at a 7-Eleven and police surrounded the convenience store. The suspect came out carrying a knife and a handgun, and police confronted him and arrested him, authorities said. Investigators discovered he’d stabbed the security guard to death and cut out his gun from his belt, Whitney said.
While clearing the scene, they were told the suspect had also killed one person during a robbery at a Subway restaurant before he went to the 7-Eleven — both in Santa Ana, police said.
There are no known connections between the suspect and the victims, and the motive appears to be robbery, Whitney said.
“These crimes have nothing to do with hate or race,” Whitney added “The suspect is Hispanic and so are most of the victims.”
Authorities have not identified the suspect.
Source: cnn.com
