A man armed with “two very large machete-type knives” reportedly attacked several people in Southern California Wednesday evening, killing four and leaving two wounded. The suspect has not yet been identified.
The knifing spree began around 4:00 p.m. when police received a call regarding a burglary at a Garden Grove apartment complex, where two people claimed that their apartments had been broken into. About 20 minutes later, police say they received another burglary call from a nearby bakery.
According to Lt. Carl Whitney of the Garden Grove Police Department, the burglaries were conducted by the same suspect. After burglarizing the bakery, the suspect allegedly came back to his apartment building and fatally stabbed two people. It’s unclear whether or not he knew them.
Following the alleged attack at the apartment building, police say that the suspect broke into an insurance agency and stabbed a woman. According to Whitney, the woman fought back.
“This female employee was very brave. This guy was armed with knives — she fought as best as she could,” he said.
Following this, police received a call about a man who’d been stabbed in the back while pumping gas. At this point, police say they realized that these crimes were all the work of the same suspect. The woman and man were hospitalized but are expected to recover.
The suspect then drove his Mercedes to Santa Ana, where he allegedly stabbed someone while robbing a Subway and fatally stabbed a security guard before taking his gun. Police say they found his Mercedes outside a 7-Eleven store and arrested him. The suspect was carrying a gun and a knife when he was nabbed.
As of now, there is no known motive other than robbery. According to Whitney, “these crimes have nothing to do with hate or race. The suspect is Hispanic and so are most of the victims.”
“I’ve worked here for 30 years,” he told CNN. “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.”
[Photo via Reuters Screen Capture.]