Suspect identified in Calif. stabbing rampage
Four people dead, two others injured; motive still unclear.
— A 33-yearold LOS ANGELES man identified by law enforcement sources as Zachary Castaneda is being held on $1 million bail in connection with a deadly rampage across two Orange County cities that left four people dead and two others wounded.
Wednesday’s spate of violence is one of the worst Orange County has experienced in recent years.
“I’ve been a police officer for 30 years, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen a suspect kill four people and stab others,” Garden Grove Police Lt. Carl Whitney said. “It’s pure evil.”
Authorities said the attacks, which unfolded over a roughly 2 1/2-hour period, appeared to have begun as robberies but added that “pure hate” might also be a potential motive. At this point in their investigation, authorities said, the attacks don’t appear to be racially motivated.
The rampage started with a residential burglary in Garden Grove shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday and quickly evolved into a series of apparently random stabbings that terrorized Garden Grove and Santa Ana before Castaneda was taken into custody outside a 7-Eleven store in Santa Ana.
Four men were killed and a 44-year-old man and 54-yearold woman were wounded in the attacks. Authorities have not released their names, but family members identified one of the individuals killed as 62-year-old Helmuth Hauprich.
Detectives do not believe the suspect knew any of the people he attacked. However, he lived at the Casa De Portola apartment complex on Jentges Avenue in Garden Grove where his alleged crimes began and later turned deadly, Whitney said.
The investigation began shortly after 4 p.m., when Hauprich and his roommate arrived home to Casa De Portola to find their apartment had been ransacked and called police. A passport, a Social Security card, a work authorization card (known as a green card), a sword collection and a large dining room table had been stolen, according to Hauprich’s son, Erwin Hauprich.
As officers were responding to that call, an armed robbery was reported at a nearby bakery in the 13000 block of Chapman Avenue. The robber fled in a silver Mercedes, police said.
According to police, the suspect returned to the two men’s apartment complex about 5 p.m. and stabbed both of them. When officers arrived, they found one man on the balcony and another man lying inside. Both had been stabbed several times. One died at the scene and the other was taken to a trauma center, where he later died, Whitney said.
Forty minutes later, police believe the suspect walked into a check-cashing business, Cash & More, in the 12800 block of Chapman Avenue, threatened a customer and stole cash. Witnesses managed to take down the suspect’s license plate number.
The man then tried to rob the Best One Insurance Agency in the 12800 block of Harbor Boulevard in Garden Grove about 6:06 p.m. Inside, he attacked a 54-year-old employee, confronting her with what was described as a machete-style knife, Whitney said.
Next, about 6:09 p.m., the man pulled up at a Chevron gas station in the 13300 block of Harbor Boulevard in Garden Grove and attacked a man pumping gas, stabbing him in the back as well as nearly cutting off the man’s nose, police said. The victim was taken to a hospital and was expected to survive.
After leaving the gas station, the suspect drove south on Harbor Boulevard, stopping at a Subway sandwich shop in Santa Ana about 6:16 p.m. There, he fatally stabbed a third man, authorities said.
He went across the street about 10 minutes later and attacked a security guard at a 7-Eleven, stabbing and killing him. The man cut the security guard’s gun off of his duty belt and walked outside, Whitney said.