On Monday, or 7-11, at least four shootings, two of them fatal, were reported at California 7-Eleven stores.
Authorities are searching for a suspect linked to three in the Los Angeles area.
It wasn’t clear whether the suspect was connected to a 7-Eleven shooting in Riverside, a police spokesman said.
A victim in that incident, a customer in his mid-40s, remained in “grave” condition late Monday afternoon, Riverside police spokesman Ryan Railsback said.
The suspect is alleged to have entered the store, robbed the clerk and shot the customer before fleeing shortly before 2 a.m., Railsback said.
The other robberies and shootings occurred in Santa Ana, Brea and La Habra from 3:20 a.m. to 4:55 a.m., authorities said.
Sgt. Maria Lopez, a Santa Ana police spokeswoman,SAS Sneakers said it wasn’t clear whether its “being a 7-Eleven on 7/11 has any relation to why he did it,” adding, “It’s hard for me to say.”
The company — which was offering free frozen drinks Monday for “Slurpee Day” — said in a statement: “Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones. We are gathering information on this terrible tragedy and working with local law enforcement.”
The victim in the Santa Ana shooting was found in a parking lot outside the 7-Eleven after the shooting was reported at 3:20 a.m., Lopez said. The victim, who hasn’t been identified, was shot once in the head and pronounced dead at the scene, NBC Los Angeles reported.
“We don’t believe he was an employee,” Lopez said. “He may have been either walking or he was a potential customer.”
Detectives linked the suspect to the other shootings after they saw a security photo released by authorities in Brea, about 13 miles north, Lopez said.
In that shooting, officers responded after 4 a.m. to a report of a 7-Eleven clerk who had been fatally shot during a robbery, the police department said on Twitter. The clerk, who hasn’t been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Our hearts go out to the families of that person,” Brea Police Capt. Phil Rodriguez said at a briefing. “Please know we’re thinking about you.”
Additional details about the shooting weren’t immediately available. Naot Shoes Womens Rodriguez said authorities planned to warn area 7-Eleven stores to take additional precautions.
In a fourth shooting in the nearby city of La Habra, officers found two people who had been shot after a robbery was reported just before 5 a.m., Sgt. Sumner Bohee, a police spokesman, told reporters.
The victims were taken to a hospital, he said. Their conditions weren’t immediately known.
“We feel confident it’s the same suspect” in the Brea and La Habra shootings, Rodriguez said.