Because his clothes and vehicle matched the descriptions at each location, police said they believe this is the work of one man, but would need to investigate to determine that he was responsible for every shooting. A shooting was reported at 11:36 a.m. Banning Police Chief Alex Diaz said the driver of a red Cadillac was shot and killed, and a male passenger was found injured. Diaz did not know the extent of the surviving man’s injuries. That shooting occurred about 1 mile from the first incident, at San Gorgonio Avenue and Nicolet Street.
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The suspect reportedly fled the area in a white SUV. The female driver sustained minor injuries when her windows were shot out by the suspect.
At one time police had four crime scenes, Diaz said. A short time later, an assault was reported in the parking lot of a local AMPM.
During the chaos of the attacks, parent-volunteers at the nearby Nicolet Middle School’s youth program, which was in session Saturday, were asked to conduct an informal lockdown and keep the 45 students inside, Diaz said.
At 12:15 p.m., police were called to the 200 block of East Lincoln Drive.
“At this point we’re trying to correlate … that incident with the rest of our shootings”, Diaz said.
The police said there was no clear motive as the shooter had no relation to the victims.
Around noon, Pelegrin said, he noticed a vehicle pull into the gas station and a woman screaming. “All over his face he was bruised”, said Efrain Meja, an employee.
However, Beaumont interim Chief Sean Thuilliez said it is not clear yet to determine if this is the same suspect from the Banning case. Nearly an hour after the terror began, the suspect in a white Chevy Tahoe was finally tracked down in Beaumont after terrorizing more victims while trying to break into a auto.
In Beaumont, Beaumont Police stopped a man in a white SUV who fit the description of the suspect.
Officers saw a weapon in the auto and are now working on obtaining a search warrant in order to seize it, Thuilliez said. The name of other victims have not been released.
Diaz said the man’s questions about his children anxious police who went to his home in a nearby town to check on his family.
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None of the victims of the attack were known to or related to the suspect. A victim was injured by glass fragments, but wasn’t hit by gunfire, Diaz said. “How do you quantify the human mind?”
