“It appears that a little boy died in his mother’s arms when she tried to save him in this horrific massacre,” Orange County prosecutor Todd Spitzer said at a press conference Thursday, though he later added that the exact nature of their relationship still existed. in research.
“The preliminary motive is believed to be related to a business and personal relationship that existed between the suspect and all of the victims,” Orange Police Department spokesman Lieutenant Jennifer Amat said at a news conference Thursday.
“This was not an arbitrary act of violence,” she said.
Five calls to the emergency number came in around 5:34 PM, Amat said, and officers were at the complex about 30 miles south of Los Angeles about two minutes later.
When they arrived they heard shots inside, but they couldn’t get in right away. From the inside, the gates to the building’s courtyard were locked “with a bicycle lock,” said Amat.
It’s unclear whether they were meant to keep the victims in or officers out, police officials said.
What the police found when they came in
After meeting the suspect and firing shots, police used a bolt cutter to enter the courtyard and found the suspect, who was injured, and took him into custody. Police had previously said it was unclear whether his injury was self-inflicted.
In the courtyard, the police also found the boy and the adult woman who survived. She was taken to a local hospital, where she is in critical but stable condition, Amat said.
In addition to the boy, the dead were two women and a man, Amat said.
One of the women was found on top of a landing. The man was found in an office building, and the other woman was found in a separate office building, Amat said.
The suites where some victims were found belonged to a company identified as Unified Homes, said Amat, a real estate company specializing in mobile homes.
Investigators found a semi-automatic pistol and a backpack with pepper spray, handcuffs and ammunition, which authorities believe belonged to the suspect.
The victims
Orange police on Friday identified the four victims as Matthew Farias, 9; Jenevieve Raygoza, 28; Leticia Solis Guzman, 58; and Luis Tovar, 50.
The suspect
Police identified the suspect as Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez, 44, from Fullerton, California. He is in a critical but stable condition at a local hospital, Amat said.
Authorities had said he would be charged Friday afternoon and face four murders, one attempted murder and two attempted murder of a police officer.
But the hearing was postponed until Monday. Public defender Ken Morrison told CNN that Gonzalez is unable to make an intelligent decision on his case and is unconscious at the time.
“Prosecutors also allege the special circumstance of multiple murders,” said the prosecutor’s office.
Gonzalez, who reportedly lived in a motel room in Anaheim, arrived at the complex in a rental car and parked it in a nearby parking lot, Amat said.
A preliminary investigation by law enforcement concluded that the suspect was using a legally purchased firearm, she added.
The research
Authorities stayed on site on Thursday to complete the investigation.
Spitzer said investigators were there for two reasons: to investigate the mass shooting, as well as the shooting aspect of the case involved by the officer, to ensure both objectivity and transparency.
Spitzer emphasized that under California law, the suspect is eligible for the death penalty because of multiple victims.
Prosecutors are also investigating whether the fact that the gates were locked “lurk,” Spitzer said, is a special circumstance that would also make the suspect eligible for the death penalty.
During his tenure, Spitzer said he had reviewed nearly 20 murder cases on whether or not to prosecute the death penalty, but he has never filed a death sentence.
“Asking a jury to issue a death sentence is the most serious consequence we ask, and it is the only consequence when a jury makes the decision instead of a judge,” he said.
CNN’s Alexandra Meeks, Sarah Moon, Joe Sutton and Holly Yan contributed to this report.