August 9, 2019

USA: Documented Gang Member In Custody After Stabbing, Robbery Spree That Killed 4 People And Wounded 2 In Orange County, California. Released From Prison Early Under CA Assembly Bill B109.

He killed more people with his knives than the Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooter who killed 3 people. (emphasis mine)

Daily Caller
written by Chuck Ross, Investigative Reporter
Thursday August 8, 2019

A 33-year-old man was arrested Wednesday and charged with allegedly stabbing four people to death during a crime spree outside Los Angeles.

The spree reportedly began shortly before 4:30 p.m. with a burglary at an apartment building in Garden Grove, California. The suspect was arrested hours later outside of a 7-Eleven, where he had fatally stabbed a security guard and Subway customer.

“You see this once in a career,” Garden Grove police Lt. Carl Whitney told reporters.

Authorities did not identify the suspect, who is Hispanic. All four of the deceased were Hispanic men. Whitney said police are investigating eight separate crime scenes.
After allegedly murdering two men at an apartment building, police said the suspect robbed a check cashing business and an insurance agency, where he stabbed a female employee. She is expected to survive.

The suspect then stabbed a man pumping gas at a Chevron station. He later killed a security guard at a 7-11, and a customer at a Subway.

“Robbery, hate, homicide. This is all of the above,” Whitney said at a press conference, according to Los Angeles’ KTLA. “It’s just pure tragedy right now.”

The murder spree comes in the wake of mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton that left 31 people dead and dozens injured. The suspect in the El Paso massacre, Patrick Crusius, allegedly posted a manifesto in which he railed against the “Hispanic invasion” of the U.S. He has been charged with capital murder, and the Justice Department has called the attack an act of domestic terrorism. Authorities have still not determined a motive for the Dayton shooting, which left nine dead.

Fox News
written by Talia Kaplan
Thursday August 8, 2019

A “documented gang member,” who police said "should have been in prison," was responsible for a two-hour stabbing and robbery rampage in Southern California that killed four people and injured two, authorities said Thursday.

Garden Grove Police Chief Tom DaRé told reporters that Zachary Castaneda "could have injured or killed many other people" had he not been apprehended as he walked out of a convenience store in the neighboring city of Santa Ana, dropping a knife and a gun he had taken from a security guard he had just killed.

Police told reporters the violence appeared to be “random," with Garden Grove police Lt. Carl Whitney adding that Castaneda was "violent" with detectives who attempted to interview him Wednesday night and was kept in restraints.

"He never told us why he did this," Whitney said.

The night before he told reporters, "We know this guy was full of anger."

Police said the violence unfolded across eight crime scenes in Garden Grove and Santa Ana, including an apartment complex, a bakery, an insurance office, a gas station and a Subway restaurant. The attacker and four of his alleged victims were described as Hispanic, the other two were described as Caucasian.

The two people who were injured in the attacks, a 44-year-old Hispanic man and a 54-year-old Hispanic woman, had undergone surgeries and were listed in stable condition.

Castaneda has a conviction for possession of meth for sale while armed with an assault rifle, police said, adding that investigators were still putting together his entire criminal history. Officials didn't specify what crimes sent Castaneda to prison or when he was released, but the chief described the suspect as a "violent individual," who should "never have been considered for early release" from prison.

“Based upon his prior arrest record, he is a violent individual who should have never been considered for early release based upon Assembly Bill 109.”

The bill, enacted in 2011, was designed to transfer people convicted of certain classes of less serious felonies from state prison to local county jails.

DaRé went on to say, “As a police chief I implore our policymakers to reevaluate their policies on criminal justice.”

DaRé said California law enforcement agencies have been “crippled” by Assembly Bill 109 and “offenders are not being held accountable for their crimes.”

Fox News has reviewed Castaneda’s court records in Orange County and discovered he has a long criminal history dating back to 2004, which includes convictions for child abuse, battery, car theft and prior drug offenses.

He was also accused of assault and battery last year, but pleaded not guilty. It was not clear if or how that case was resolved.

In June of this year Castaneda was charged with eight counts of vandalism on behalf of a criminal street gang but pleaded not guilty.

Whitney told reporters on Thursday that police had previously gone to Castaneda's Garden Grove apartment to deal with a child custody issue. The suspect's mother had been living with him and had once asked police how she could evict her son, he said.

Whitney said Castaneda stabbed two men to death during a confrontation after he allegedly burglarized their apartment. Police said Castaneda lives in the same Garden Grove apartment complex as his stabbing victims.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 11:57 AM

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