Orange County has been the scene of several mass or spree attacks, including Sunday’s shooting in Laguna Woods that left one person dead and five others injured, four critically.
Before Sunday, the most recent mass shooting in Orange County was at a real estate office in Orange on March 31, 2021.
Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez was charged with special circumstances murder for the killings of Jenevieve Raygoza, 28; Luis Tovar, 50; Leticia Solis Guzman, 58; and Matthew Farias, 9. He was also charged with the attempted murder of Matthew’s mother, Blanca Ismeralda Tamayo, and for allegedly shooting at two officers who weren’t injured. Gonzalez was shot in the confrontation and has been found not competent to stand trial.
Here are some of the other crimes Orange County has experienced:
Scott Dekraai killed eight people and injured a ninth during a mass shooting at a Seal Beach salon on Oct. 12, 2011 in what stands as the worst mass killing in Orange County history. Dekraai admitted to the murders. When he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole an Orange County judge told Dekraai that “The gates of Hell flew open and you emerged as the face of evil in this community.”
Edward Charles Allaway, a Cal State Fullerton janitor who had served in the Marines, on July 12, 1976 walked room to room at the campus, firing a .22-caliber semiautomtic rifle. Seven people were killed in the shooting, which for years was considered the bloodiest rampage in Orange County history. Allaway, who surrendered to police, was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to a state mental hospital.
Christopher Dorner, a fired Los Angeles police officer, killed an Irvine couple and two law enforcement officials in 2013 before taking his own life during a showdown at a cabin near Big Bear Lake. Dorner, in a rambling manifesto, threatened his former LAPD colleagues and their families, describing the department as racist and corrupt.
Arturo Reyes Torres on Dec. 18, 1997 returned to a Caltrans yard in Orange where he had been fired weeks earlier and shot and killed four men. He also wounded a police officer during a roving gun battle that ended with Torres being shot and killed.
Ali Syed, a 20-year-old man armed with a shotgun, went on a killing, carjacking and shooting spree on Feb. 19, 2013 that left four dead, including himself. The rampage began at his parents’ home before going through Santa Ana, Tustin and ending in Orange. No motive was ever made public, though a suicide note Syed left reportedly indicated he was having problems with anti-depressant medication.
Gregory Allen Sturm on Aug. 19, 1990 killed three former co-workers at a Tustin auto parts store, lining them up, binding them with tape and shooting them execution-style in the back of their heads to prevent them from identifying him. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
And awaiting trial:
Zachary Castaneda, a 33-year-old gang member, is accused of going on a stabbing spree in Garden Grove and Santa Ana on Aug.7, 2019 that left four dead and two wounded. He is currently awaiting trial on four felony counts of murder, along with numerous other charges. Police and prosecutors have not outlined a suspected motive.
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Sandria Chou, whose parents were inside Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods when a shooter opened fire, and whose 92-year-old father was one of the victims shot by the gunman and taken to a local hospital, talks with officers as she arrives at the scene on Sunday, May 15, 2022. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer)
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“That group of churchgoers displayed what we believe is exceptional heroism and bravery,” Undersheriff Jeff Hallock said. Hallock, center, undersheriff with Orange County Sheriff’s Department, answers questions from the media during a press conference near the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on Sunday, May 15, 2022 regarding the shooting at the church that killed one person and critically injured four other people. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Investigators take photos at the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, CA following a fatal shooting on Sunday, May 15, 2022. One person was killed and five others were wounded — four of them critically — in a shooting Sunday at a church. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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An Orange County Sheriff’s Officer and canine search the parking lot in front of Geneva Presbyterian Church, looking for possible secondary explosive devices, following a shooting there on Sunday, May 15, 2022 that left one dead and five other injured. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer)
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Police and Fire vehicles block the intersection in front of Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods following a shooting there on Sunday, May 15, 2022. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer)
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T.I.P. or Trauma Intervention Personnel seen here wearing blue safety vests speak with victims following a mass shooting at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on Sunday afternoon May 15th, 2022 (Patrick Smith, Contributing Photogrpaher)
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Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett, right, reads a statement at a press conference near the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on Sunday, May 15, 2022 regarding the shooting at the church that killed one person and critically injured four other people. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Sandria Chou, center, speaks the media about her 92-year-old father and 87-year-old mother were among those shot and wounded in the shooting at a Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on Sunday, May 15, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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A counselor attends to a grieving woman, center, outside the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on Sunday, May 15, 2022 where one person died and four people were critically injured in a shooting. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Orange County Sheriff’s deputies and investigators gather on Calle Sonora after one person died and four people were critically injured in a shooting at a Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on Sunday, May 15, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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