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4 Dead in Murderous Carjacking Rampage in Orange County, Calif.

Feb. 19, 2013 3:39pm Erica Ritz

4 Dead in Orange County, California Carjacking | Man Executes Victim in BMW, Shoots Woman in Home

Police investigators examine a gun laying in the street at the intersection of Wanda Road and Katella Avenue in Orange, Calif. , Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. (Photo: AP)

(AP) — The violence stretched across 25 miles in Orange County and was as brutal as it was fast-moving.

In less than an hour, a man in his 20s shot and killed a woman in her home and two commuters during carjackings early Tuesday, shot up vehicles on a Southern California freeway and committed suicide as police closed in on him, authorities said.

One driver was forced from his BMW at a red light, marched to a curb and killed as witnesses watched in horror.

“He was basically executed,” Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said. “There were at least six witnesses.”

It was unclear if the victims knew each other or the shooter, Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said.

“It might have been a random thing,” he said. “We just don’t know.”

The violence began at 4:45 a.m., when deputies responded to a call in Ladera Ranch, a sleepy inland town about 55 miles southeast of Los Angeles. They found a woman shot multiple times.

The Orange County coroner’s office wheels a body to a waiting van in Orange, Calif. , Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. Police say a chaotic 25-minute shooting spree through Orange County left a trail of dead and injured victims before the shooter killed himself. (Photo: AP)

Jason Glass, who lives across the street, said he couldn’t sleep and was watching TV in his garage with the door partly open when he heard what sounded like gun shots.

Then he heard a commotion and the sound of a car speeding away.

Hours later, his neighborhood was flooded with police, and crime scene tape sectioned off the street.

Glass said a man and three young children had been escorted from the home where the shooting occurred.

“I just happened to be in here when this happened,” Glass said about his garage. “To think he could have rolled under my door or needed a car or needed to hide is crazy. It’s freaking me out.”

From Ladera Ranch, police said the gunman headed north and within 30 minutes carjacked a Dodge pickup truck in Tustin, about 20 miles away. The driver was uninjured, but a bystander was hit by gunfire and taken to a hospital.

The suspect then began firing at vehicles in the area where Interstate 5 and State Route 55 connect.

ABC News has more:

Three people reported being targeted, including one who suffered a minor injury, Tustin police Lt. Paul Garaven said. Two cars were damaged.

When the truck got low on gas, the gunman stopped at State Route 55 and McFadden Avenue in Santa Ana, stole the BMW and killed the driver, Bertagna said.

The shooter then drove to a Tustin business called Micro Center and carjacked another small truck, killing one person and wounding another, Garaven said.

Officers trailed the gunman to Orange, a city about five miles away.

As they closed in, the man got out of the vehicle at a busy intersection and shot himself, police said.

A shotgun was recovered at the scene.

Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino stated: “There’s a lot to sort out.”

This post has been updated with new information.

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Comments (99)

Tri-ox
Posted on February 21, 2013 at 11:10am
What the media failed to report … SUDDEN JIHAD SYNDROME? Did you hear that the shooter is a muslim, named Ali Syed?

http://www.barenakedislam.com/2013/02/21/sudden-jihad-syndrome-muslim-man-kills-4-including-himself-in-los-angeles-wild-shooting-spree/

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THX-1138
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 7:44am
It’s sad that none of these people had the forsight to have a means of self defense available. If this guy had tried to carjack me the best that he could possibly have expected is to trade bullets. Moreover, if the first victim had been prepared the others would have been spared.

It seems so simple to me. I just can’t imagine why so many people don’t get it…

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sickofliars
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 2:03am
Where the hell are my comments!?

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goodgrubguy
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 11:46pm
I live here in Ladera Ranch where this started. My son goes to school with one of the kids, says he is nice. They were talking about it at baseball tonight. To say it’s sleepy here is an understatement. Very nice and safe town with a great diverse community where most people know their neighbors. This is one of those things where you weren’t going to stop the first incident but those carjackers could’ve used a piece. Just looking at a cursory glance, there are signs of a family in termoil even before the incident. All we can do is pray for this family and hope they get through this and the other issues they are facing. Just a sad day in our little town.

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sickofliars
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 10:47pm
His name was Ali Sayed… If you’ll notice his face and this story is missing from most front pages, even here in California. Rest assured, if his name was Alex McDonald his face would still be on the cover of yahoo and kabc. Since he killed everyone he came into contact with today, I don’t know if we’ll ever know if he screamed Allahu Akbar.

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- goodgrubguy
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 11:54pm
  FYI, the local Fox, KTLA, ABC, KCAL… all have his face and name in the story multiple times. Doubt he was yelling anything….I suspect that it will come out that there were drugs involved. I live here in Ladera and a 20 yr old that doesn’t work and takes 1 class at saddleback college is not the typical kid in this town. There were other issues going on in the home but my kid says the younger brother is very nice. Who knows but very sad for them.
  
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wbaranowski
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 10:38pm
Per Pamela Geller’s blog, Atlas Shrugs, shooter id’d as Ali Syed, a 20 year old, part time student.

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media-bias-steals-elections
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 10:37pm
Thanks to reports like these, I never leave the house unarmed. My big brown dog in the back seat would probably lick him to death first? It might devalue your car in trade in, but, what they hay, you only live once, and the dog loves it?

How many car jackers would there be if they went to a dog shelter and had a dog love them back? If you ever want to car jack somebody, go get a dog out of a shelter first, you will change your mind?

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DisposableWorker
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 10:20pm
I wonder if his government handler was near by.

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SanDiegoCountyCitizen
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 9:18pm
Just another mass shooting in the statist controlled “Gun Free Zone” of California!
Good thing the progressive-statist Democrats in the CA legislature have assured that law abiding citizens in all urban areas will never be able to legally carry firearms for self protection… that poor, misunderstood mass murderer might have been shot by one of those victims. That would be bad press for the statist gun banners!

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Leonard1
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 8:43pm
The police are only minutes away when seconds count.

This is not to denigrate the efficiency of any police department it is, however, a normally factual statement.

A carried firearm does not guarantee success, only a fighting chance.

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Moseyspeed
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 7:23pm
Police named the gunman as 20-year-old Ali Syed…nuff said.

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- crueltiming
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 8:51pm
  hush,all you haters!
  you’ve seen his name–therefore it was workplace violence.
  
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denkat56
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 7:14pm
Watch out big brother has yet another reason to take our guns, the boy king Obama will use this incident to push for no guns allowed at all, either at home or on your person.

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BookMDanno
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 7:09pm
Oddly, the name of the alleged shooter is Ali Syed, now readily available. Makes you wonder why Brian Williams–on NBC Nightly News–carefully avoided mentioning this….NOT.

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wilbstal
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 6:37pm
Feinsteins gun laws working well in Ca, ill bet the shooter is a registered Liberal

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silentknight
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 5:51pm
The victims must not have been close to a call box or safe zone and were unable to blow their whistle before the jacker pulled the trigger. Unfortunately the victim did not possess a concealed scissors permit.

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Patriot Z
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 5:22pm
the thing that stuck out most to me…was in the beginning when a witness said ”he heard gunshots and HOURS LATER there were cops’…

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republic2011
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 5:13pm
They all seem to shoot themselves in the head at the end of all of these, lately? Coincidence? Even Dorner. Dead men tell no tales. I am starting to see a pattern and I am getting suspicious.

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- sickofliars
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 10:55pm
  It’s REALLY hard to believe all this is coincidental. It seems to be a weekly occurrence nowadays.
  
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exfire
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 5:12pm
Once again… tell me how making it harder to own a gun would have stopped these people from getting killed ??

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American-first
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 5:02pm
Another reason not to be in CA. Here in our state a CCW permit holder can treat a car jacking the same as a home invasion. A firearm may not have helped, but it would have been an option.

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PhineasJWhoopee
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 4:59pm
Wonder if the BMW driver was a anti-gun California liberal and if they may have changed their mind
in the final seconds of their life. Wish I had a gu…….

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PhineasJWhoopee
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 4:53pm
Last thought of the person in the BMW : Wish I had a gun.

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sinner-saint
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 4:51pm
Geez…this is getting rediculous. These liberal crazies are getting way out of control and shooting up everything in sight – including themselves. We don’t have a gun problem in this country…..we have a liberal mentally unstable crazy insane nut case people problem. I haven’t seen any conservative, accountable, responsible law-abiding patriotic, God-loving, U.S. citizens loyal to the U.S. Constitution shooting the place up and going on killing sprees.

Lol hey all you obama-loving mindless clueless useful idiots out there, how’s all those gunban/control laws working out for ya? Looks like your own kind doing all the shooting/killing. Like a friend of mine said not long ago……the only good obama-loving mindless clueless useful idiot is a dead one. Cudos for the shooter. He wacked himself…..saved us a bullet. Wouldn’t it be nice if all the obama-loving mindless clueless crazy insane mentally unstable useless idiots out there would wack themself like this guy did? That would sure save a lot of bullets.

We should take the shooter and reward him – feed him to a bunch of wild hungry pigs. Costs too much to bury or burn the POS. As for all the people he shot……..it’s unfortunate.

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COFemale
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 4:32pm
So what are the Liberals tips for avoiding a car-jacking? That should be good. I bet having a gun is not one of them.

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SIG40ONDAHIP
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 4:28pm
hey why didn’t they grab some scissors and get under the car?

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noslave
Posted on February 19, 2013 at 4:24pm
just issue guns to all american citizens,the problems will soon disappear??

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