A suspect reportedly armed with long knives or a machete went on a horrific stabbing spree across numerous locations in Southern California that left four innocent people dead and at least two others severely wounded.
California stabbing spree leaves four dead
The stabbing spree began at an apartment complex in Garden Grove, California where the suspect lived, Fox News reported. Two men, Helmuth Hauprich, 62, and another 63-year-old man were stabbed at that apartment complex and died.
The murderer then moved on to other locations in Garden Grove and nearby Santa Ana to continue his deadly spree of attacks.
An employee at a Subway restaurant was fatally stabbed, as was a security guard at a nearby 7-Eleven convenience store.
Other injured victims included a woman who was stabbed multiple times at an insurance agency, as well as a man who was stabbed in the back at a gas station and nearly had his nose severed from his face.
Anger, hate, and murder
The blade-wielding man was detained by police outside the 7-Eleven and was reportedly “full of anger” when taken into custody. “He remained violent with us through the night. He never told us why he did this,” Garden Grove police Chief Tom DaRe said Thursday.
The 33-year-old suspect from Orange County was identified as Zachary Castaneda, a documented gang member who was free on bail after being charged last month for carrying a concealed dagger. The police noted that the suspect and two of his victims were Hispanic, while two others were white.
Police said that they have “video showing him attacking these people and conducting these murders.” As for the motives for his gruesome crime spree, police could only chalk it up to “robbery, hate, homicide.”
Garden Grove Police Lt. Carl Whitney added in a news conference, “We know this guy was full of anger and he harmed a lot of people tonight.”
He “could have injured or killed many other people” if he had not been stopped, DaRe said.
It could have been different
This incident illustrates once again that legislation cannot eliminate violent crime and reveals how the Democratic Party’s efforts to impose gun control and disarm law-abiding civilians will only leave them vulnerable to the whims of violent criminals — who don’t care about laws.
Had one of the machete-wielding man’s victims — or a random passer-by or witness — been legally armed with a gun, this slashing and stabbing spree could have been cut short, if not prevented altogether.