Cops: Man Killed 4 in California Rampage

Victims include suspect's father, brother
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 26, 2019 2:27 AM CDT
Cops: Man Killed 4 in California Rampage
This photo from video provided by KABC-TV shows Gerry Dean Zaragoza, 26, a suspect in a 12-hour rampage in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, being wheeled to an ambulance after his arrest Thursday afternoon, July 25, 2019.   (KABC-TV via AP)

A 26-year-old man is in custody after a rampage spanning the San Fernando Valley that killed four people and injured at least two others, police say. Hundreds of LAPD officers were involved in the search for Gerry Dean Zaragoza, who was taken into custody Thursday afternoon, more than 12 hours after the first killings, the Orange County Register reports. Police say the rampage began around 2am when Zaragoza fatally shot his brother and father in their apartment in Los Angeles' Canoga Park neighborhood. His mother was also injured in the shooting. Authorities say Zaragoza then killed his ex-girlfriend and injured a gas station worker in a shooting in North Hollywood around 45 minutes later, NBC reports.

At around 7:30am, less than two miles from the first shootings, Zaragoza tried to rob a man outside a Bank of America branch but gave up and left the victim unharmed when he found out he didn't have any money, authorities say. Hours later, Zaragoza boarded a bus in the Balboa Park area and shot a passenger in the head, police say. The man was apparently a stranger to Zaragoza, who was arrested in the area around an hour later. "Plainclothes officers that had been surveilling the area … took him into custody," LAPD Capt. Billy Hayes tells the Register. "There was a small use of force but he was taken into custody. It is obviously an individual who went on a violent spree." Police haven't disclosed any motive for the killings. (More Los Angeles stories.)

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