LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two people were killed and three wounded in a predawn shooting Monday at four 7-Eleven stores in Southern California, and authorities said they were searching for a lone gunman in at least three of the shootings.
The shootings appear to have followed robberies or attempted robberies at the four stores on July 11, or July 11, a day when national brand 7-Eleven celebrates its 95th birthday by giving away free Slurpee drinks.
“Our hearts go out to the victims and their loved ones,” 7-Eleven, Inc. said in a statement. “We are gathering information about this terrible tragedy and are working with local law enforcement.”
It was unclear to investigators what sparked the shootings in the cities of Riverside, Santa Ana, Brea and La Habra or why the violence occurred on July 11.
“I think the only person that’s going to answer that is going to be the suspect,” said Officer Ryan Railsback, a spokesman for the Riverside Police Department, where the first shooting happened around 1:50 a.m. “There is no way this is a coincidence like 7-Eleven July 11th.
The Riverside shooting left the victim in critical condition, and while that shooting has not been officially linked to the others, Railsback said “they all look very, very similar.”
The cases seem odd, Railsback said, because criminals generally know that store robberies rarely result in large sums of money, especially at night.
“If you go to a liquor store, a 7-Eleven or a fast food place, you’re not going to get a lot of money out of it,” he said. “It’s strange that they would do that.”
In the Riverside case, the gunman robbed the employee and brandished a gun, then pointed the weapon at a customer, opened fire and fled, Railsback said. Police believe the employee handed over cash from the till.
“There does not appear to be any reason for the suspect to have shot the customer,” Railsback said. “Looks like the clerk gave him what he asked for.”
The second shooting happened around 3:20 a.m., about 24 miles (39 kilometers) away in Santa Ana, authorities said.
Officers who responded to a reported shooting at a 7-Eleven in that city found a man dead in the parking lot with a single gunshot wound to the upper torso, according to Sgt. Santa Ana Police spokeswoman Maria Lopez. The violence appears to include robbery.
“At this point, we do not believe he was an employee. We still don’t know what he was doing there in the parking lot, whether he was a potential customer or just passing by,” Lopez said.
Surveillance video showed the suspect dropping items — believed to be the victim’s belongings — as he ran, Lopez said.
Lopez said detectives believe the suspect in the Santa Ana killing is the same man who then traveled 12 miles (19.31 kilometers) to Brea, where a 7-Eleven employee was found dead of a gunshot wound about 4:18 a.m. in the morning
Brea Police Capt. Phil Rodriguez said officers responded to a report of a man suffering from a gunshot wound and found the officer injured. He was later pronounced dead.
“This really looks like a robbery turned murder,” Rodriguez said.
Surveillance photos posted on social media by Brea police show a masked man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt. The sweatshirt had white lettering with green leaves on the front.
Police declined to say what, if anything, was stolen from the Brea store or the victim, repeating only that the incident started as a robbery.
Less than an hour later, police in neighboring La Habra were dispatched to a robbery reported at a 7-Eleven. They found two gunshot victims around 4:55 a.m., according to Sgt. Sumner Bohee. The shooter had fled.
Authorities have not released the condition of the victims.
“We’re confident it’s the same suspect,” Rodriguez said.
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