Four people are dead and two wounded in a shooting spree across several neighborhoods in Los Angeles which began in the wee morning hours of Thursday morning. The armed suspect was arrested by LA police on Thursday afternoon following a 12-hour manhunt on Thursday afternoon.
Gerry Dean Zaragoza, 26, was taken into custody and will be charged with the murders of his father and brother and two others as well as the wounding of his mother and another man.
The manhunt to catch Zaragoza was especially grueling due to a heatwave in the area with temperatures of almost 100 degrees (37.7 C).
Zaragoza began his rampage at 2 a.m. on Thursday morning at the apartment he lived in with his family by killing his 50-year old father and 20-year old brother. He shot his mother as well but she survived and was transported to the hospital in stable condition.
Zaragoza then left his apartment and shot a woman he was acquainted with at a gas station as well as a man around 45 minutes later. The woman died after being transported to a hospital and the man is in critical condition.
Hours later, Zaragoza shot and killed a man on a bus about 1 p.m. Police believe that the victim was a complete stranger to Zaragoza. “He didn’t even talk to his last victim,” said Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Capt. William Hayes. “He’s getting off the bus and he turns and shoots the person. It doesn’t look like there was any interaction between them.”
Hayes added that they are unaware of Zaragoza's motive for the murders. "We're evaluating it, we're interviewing witnesses but we can't come up with a specific answer," he told reporters.
“This is a very dark day in the San Fernando Valley. We have lost four Angelenos,” said LA councilman Bob Blumenfield.
LA police published photos of Zaragoza on social media during the course of the manhunt in the hope that he would be identified by the public.