Suspect arrested in shooting deaths of four people in LA
CAMARILLO, Calif. – Police in Los Angeles arrested a suspect Thursday in the killing of four people and wounding of two others in the San Fernando Valley.
The man, identified as Gerry Dean Zaragoza, 26, is suspected of shooting his father, brother and mother in the family’s Canoga Park apartment shortly before 2 a.m. Thursday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
The father, 50, and brother, 20, died, authorities said, and the mother was taken to a hospital.
A second shooting that police believe is related occurred around 2:45 a.m. at a gas station in North Hollywood. A woman there was killed by gunfire and a man was critically injured, officials said. The woman was known to the suspect, according to police, although the current status of their relationship wasn’t immediately known.
On Thursday afternoon, police said another homicide, this one around 12:52 p.m. on an Orange Line bus in the Van Nuys area, might be connected.
“It is obviously an individual that went on a violent spree,” police Capt. William Hayes said. “We knew he was a danger to the community.”
Hayes said he did not know a possible motive behind the attacks.
Police believe Zaragoza may also have tried to rob a man at an ATM outside a Bank of America branch in Canoga Park around 7:45 a.m., authorities said.
Zaragoza had been seen driving a newer-model, dark blue SUV with paper license plates, according to the LAPD.
Officers had arrested Zaragoza in Canoga Park at around 2:45 p.m. after 12-hour manhunt, the department reported.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Gerry Dean Zaragoza: Suspect arrested in deadly Canoga Park shooting
