4 Dead, 2 Wounded in Southern California Stabbings

A man who was “full of anger” went on a two-hour stabbing and robbery rampage in Southern California, killing four people and wounding two others, authorities said Wednesday.

The 33-year-old Garden Grove man was taken into custody after he came out of a 7-Eleven in Santa Ana, southeast of Los Angeles, and dropped a knife along with a handgun that he had taken from a guard, police said.

The violence appeared to be random and the only known motives seem to be “robbery, hate, homicide,” Garden Grove police Lt. Carl Whitney said at a news conference.

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The suspect and all the victims were Hispanic, he added.

The attacks on more than a half-dozen places took place over about two hours in Garden Grove and neighboring Santa Ana.

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Whitney said a bakery also was robbed.

The owner, who asked not to be identified, told KCAL-TV that she was charging her cellphone at about 4 p.m. when the man drove up and apparently mistook her for a customer.

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“I think I was very lucky because he thought I was a customer, not the owner,” she said.

The man also robbed an insurance business, where a 54-year-old employee was stabbed several times and was expected to survive.

He was armed with “some sort of machete knives” when he confronted the woman, Whitney said.

The woman “was very brave,” Whitney said. “She fought as best she could.”

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The man fled with cash and also robbed a check-cashing business next door, the lieutenant said.

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