Gang member charged in O.C. knife rampage
Zachary Castaneda is accused of stabbing 4 people to death and injuring 2 others.
A documented gang member suspected in Wednesday’s fatal Orange County stabbing and robbery rampage was formally charged Friday with killing four people and injuring two others in the attacks, authorities said.
Zachary Castaneda, 33, was charged with four counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and half a dozen other felonies in connection with the attacks in Santa Ana and Garden Grove, authorities said.
He is also charged with special enhancements for multiple murders and murder during a robbery, and for committing additional crimes while out on bail on three separate criminal cases, officials said.
Castaneda pleaded not guilty to all the charges. His arraignment was held in the county jail because he refused to be moved.
Castaneda faces a minimum sentence of life without the possibility of parole if convicted on all charges. The enhancements of multiple murders and committing murder during a robbery make him subject to the death penalty.
“I am immediately convening the Orange County district attorney’s Death Penalty Review Committee to determine whether to seek the death penalty in this case,” Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer said in a statement.
Security camera video released Friday shows the assailant attempting to rob an employee of a Garden Grove insurance agency before attacking her with what police described as “machetestyle” knives in each hand. The woman is seen trying to
get away from the attacker. After the attack, the hooded man takes items from a desk in the office before fleeing.
“This female employee was very brave,” Garden Grove Police Lt. Carl Whitney said. “She fought as best as she could against this armed suspect and sustained multiple stab wounds.” The woman was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive.
Detectives said it was unclear what prompted the deadly rampage, saying that Castaneda didn’t know the victims. The attacks started out as robberies and quickly turned deadly, police said. Officials say there is no indication they were racially motivated.
The attacker began with a residential burglary in Garden Grove after 4 p.m. Wednesday that turned violent, police said. He continued with his assaults before he was arrested outside a 7Eleven store in Santa Ana, police said.
Four men were killed and a 44-year-old man and a 54year-old woman — the employee at the insurance agency — were injured.
Family members have identified one of the victims as Helmuth Hauprich, 62. Hauprich and Castaneda both lived at the Casa de Portola apartment complex in Garden Grove, police said.
KTLA reported that a man who was stabbed to death at a Subway restaurant in Santa Ana was identified as Pascual Rioja Lorenzo, 39, of Garden Grove, and the man who was killed at the 7-Eleven was identified as Robert Ray Parker, 58, of Orange.
The slayings, which came days after mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, were among the most violent incidents in Orange County in recent years.
The attacks prompted Garden Grove officials to lower their flags to half-staff Thursday.
Times staff writer Colleen Shalby and City News Service contributed to this report.