On a day when the 7-Eleven brand was celebrating its 95th birthday by giving out free Slurpee drinks, a gun man decided to target multiple store outlets. Authorities said that at least three of the four shootings are believed to be linked to the same lone gunman.
7-Eleven, Inc. issued a statement late Monday: “Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones. We are gathering information on this terrible tragedy and working with the local law enforcement agencies.”
So far, the investigators do not know what prompted the shootings in the cities of Riverside, Santa Ana, Brea and La Habra. Officer Ryan Railsback, a spokesperson for the Riverside Police Department said: “I think the only person to answer that would be the suspect.”
Railsback added that the first shooting happened about 1:50 am (local time). The Riverside shooting, where the victim was in grave condition has not yet been officially connected to the others, Railsback said, “although they all seem very, very similar.”
The second shooting occurred around 3:20 am about 39 kilometres away, in Santa Ana. According to Sgt. Maria Lopez, a Santa Ana police spokesperson, officers responding to reported gunshots at the 7-Eleven in that city found a man dead in the parking lot with one bullet in his upper torso. The violence appeared to include an attempted robbery.
“At this moment, we don’t believe he was an employee. We don’t really know yet what he was doing there in a parking lot, if he was a potential customer or just walking by,” Lopez said.
Also Read: US Top Court Rules In Favour Of Guns In Public Places
