GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (KABC) — Four people are dead, two are injured, and a suspect is in custody after a series of stabbings and robberies in Orange County Wednesday afternoon, police say.
The Garden Grove Police Department said it started when the suspect, a 33-year-old Garden Grove resident, attempted to rob a bakery on Chapman Avenue in Garden Grove.
He then traveled to an apartment complex in the 12000 block of Jentges Avenue, where one person was stabbed to death. A second person with multiple stab wounds was taken to a hospital and later succumbed to his injuries, police said.
Two more robberies occurred at local businesses in the area. One woman was stabbed at an insurance businesses in Garden Grove. She is expected to survive.
Police then responded to reports from a Chevron gas station on Harbor Boulevard. Police said a man was pumping gas when the suspect approached him. He suffered lacerations to his face, and his nose was almost severed off, but he is expected to survive.
The suspect then made his way over to nearby Santa Ana, where another person was fatally stabbed at a Subway parking lot on 1st Street.
At a press conference Wednesday night, Garden Grove Lt. Carl Whitney said undercover officers located the suspect’s vehicle, a silver Mercedes registered in his name, in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven on Harbor Boulevard and 1st Street, and called for backup.
The suspect was arrested after he exited the store carrying a knife and a handgun. Whitney said the suspect stabbed a security guard inside the store and took his gun. That guard was rushed to the hospital but later died.
“These are all random acts of violence. Our suspect was not associated with any of our victims,” said Whitney.
Garden Grove and Santa Ana police were at one point investigating at least eight crime scenes in the area.
Authorities had not determined a motive for the stabbing spree.
"We don’t know. It’s just pure hate that this guy did this," added Whitney.
Garden Grove police were also investigating a separate stabbing that left a 62-year-old woman dead in her apartment. The victim’s 28-year-old son is a person of interest in the case and it doesn’t appear the cases are related.