Witthaya Prasongsin/Getty Images(GARDEN GROVE, Calif.) — The suspect in the deadly Southern California stabbing and robbery spree is expected to make his first court appearance Friday afternoon.
Zachary Castaneda, 33, will appear for his arraignment at 1:30 p.m. local time. He is currently being held at the Orange County jail in lieu of $1.1 million bail.
It was not immediately clear if he had legal representation before his court appearance.
Castaneda is accused of killing four people and wounding two others in a string of attacks Wednesday that sprawled across two cities.
The violent spree began at 4:09 p.m. in Garden Grove and ended at 6:25 p.m. in Santa Ana, authorities said.
During that time, Castaneda allegedly stabbed two people to death in his apartment complex, an armed security guard at a 7-Eleven, and a person outside a Subway, according to Garden Grove Police Lt. Carl Whitney.
He is also accused of repeatedly stabbing a woman at a Garden Grove insurance business, Whitney said. She is expected to survive.
Three minutes after that attack, Castaneda allegedly stabbed a 44-year-old man at a Chevron Gas Station, nearly severing off his nose, police said. That man is also expected to survive, according to authorities.
Police released video surveillance footage of the insurance business assault to show “the speed and viciousness” of the suspect’s actions.
All of the victims ranged in age from 25 to 64, officials said.
Castaneda allegedly robbed several business in Garden Grove and Santa Ana amid the attacks, police said.
Undercover Garden Grove police officers found his vehicle at the 7-Eleven — and when Castaneda exited store allegedly armed with a handgun and knife — he complied with an officer’s order to drop his weapons, police said.
He was then taken into custody.
Castaneda got the handgun after taking it from the armed security guard, authorities said.
Police said investigators were still looking into Castaneda’s motive. They said he “remained violent” throughout the night.
Whitney, meanwhile, called the attacks “tragic.”
“We don’t want to see tragedies like this happen,” he said. “We’ve seen tragedies like this happen across the United States, but what the good point we can see out of this is that our officers responded quickly, rapidly and were able to take this guy into custody as fast as we could.”
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