Four Dead, Two Injured In Southern California Stabbing; Suspect Arrested

A 33-year-old man has been arrested after a deadly robbing and stabbing spree in southern California, leaving four people dead and two injured, police officials said.

The attacks started just after 4 p.m. Wednesday evening and went on for two hours in Garden Grove and neighboring Santa Ana, southeast of Los Angeles, before the suspect was taken into custody. The man was arrested outside a 7-Eleven store, where he allegedly fatally stabbed the security guard after taking the latter's knife and gun. The suspect’s name has not yet been released.

Garden Grove Police Lt. Carl Whitney said at a news conference that the stabbings appeared random. “We know this guy was full of anger and he harmed a lot of people tonight,” he said.

The rampage began with the burglary of an apartment complex in 12100 block Jentges Avenue in Garden Grove, where the suspect also lived. According to the police no one was hurt in the burglary. From there the suspect proceeded to rob a bakery.

Police were then called back to the same apartment complex to respond to a double-stabbing. One of the stab victims was pronounced dead at the balcony in the apartment complex and the other died at the hospital, Whitney said.

The suspect’s violent rampage continued as he went on to stab two more people: a woman, who was stabbed multiple times in the back while the suspect robbed an insurance company; and a man at Chevron gas station, who was stabbed and slashed so badly that his nose was almsot severed. Both the man and the woman were taken to the hospital and are expected to survive.

The suspect then drove his silver Mercedes to a Subway restaurant in the 3800 block of West First Street where an employee was reportedly stabbed to death. The suspect’s car was then tracked by the police to the parking lot of the 7-Eleven store, from where he was arrested without further incident.

The security guard who was disarmed and fatally stabbed by the suspect at the 7-Eleven died later at the hospital.

According to Whitney, the suspect as well as the victims were Hispanic. The only known motives of the crime appear to be “robbery, hate, homicide,” he said.