🚀 go-pugleaf

The rampage began just as the morning commute was getting 
underway.

Over the course of 75 terrifying minutes, a 20-year-old college 
student allegedly killed a woman at his Ladera Ranch home before 
embarking on a string of shootings that stretched through the 
heart of Orange County and targeted random people during their 
morning routines.

He carjacked a truck at a gas station, police said. He then 
allegedly executed a businessman and stole his BMW. A few 
minutes later, he killed a plumber and took a work truck. He 
shot indiscriminately at morning commuters on the 55 Freeway, 
hitting at least three cars.

In the end, authorities say he killed three people and wounded 
three more before turning his gun on himself.

Authorities were stunned by what they described as the 
�senseless violence,� which spanned about 25 miles of normally 
placid suburbia. The gunman, identified as Ali Syed, had no 
criminal record and left few clues as to his motive, police said.

�I just killed someone,� Syed told one man during the shooting 
spree, according to police. �This is my last day.�

Police discovered the gunman�s first victim early Tuesday at a 
beige-and-white stucco condo in an upscale Ladera Ranch 
community. Syed, who was unemployed and enrolled in a single 
class at Saddleback College, lived there with his parents.

Neighbor Jason Glass said he heard three to five loud bangs 
early Tuesday morning.

He heard doors slamming. Then a car vroomed away from the house.

�I just thought somebody was being really loud and obnoxious,� 
he said.

Deputies arrived at the neighborhood of doctors and lawyers 
about 4:45 a.m., after Syed�s parents called 911.

Authorities found the body of a woman in her 20s who�d been shot 
multiple times. She was not related to Syed, authorities said. 
As of Tuesday evening, it remained unclear who she was and why 
she was at his home.

Meanwhile, Syed had taken off in the family�s black GMC Yukon, 
armed with at least one shotgun. Possibly in his haste to flee, 
police said, his SUV sustained some damage.

He exited the 5 Freeway at Red Hill Avenue in Tustin around 5 
a.m. and pulled into a Denny�s parking lot. There, a man was 
sitting in an older-model blue Cadillac, waiting for his son. 
They�d planned to carpool to work.

Syed, police said, pointed his weapon at the man and yelled: Get 
out. The man sped away. Syed fired, shattering the Cadillac�s 
rear window and striking the man in the back of the head. The 
man fled -� he was later treated at a hospital -� and Syed 
dashed to a nearby Mobil station, authorities said. He spotted a 
man pumping gas.

�When they made eye contact, Syed started running toward the 
victim,� said Tustin Police Chief Scott Jordan. �He said to him, 
�I don�t want to hurt you. I just killed someone. Give me your 
keys. This is my last day.� �

The man obliged.

Syed hopped into the man�s Dodge pickup and headed north on the 
5 Freeway. After he merged onto the southbound 55 Freeway, 
authorities said, Syed screeched onto the shoulder, jumped out 
of the truck and opened fire on the cars whizzing by. He hit at 
least three.

Santa Ana Police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said Syed may have 
realized that the pickup was low on fuel and was trying to steal 
a second vehicle.

Damita Cunningham was driving on the 55 Freeway about 5:20 a.m. 
Traffic suddenly halted. She put her car in reverse, thinking 
she could go around the accident, but a large vehicle backed 
into her Honda Accord and zipped away.

Cunningham followed the vehicle, which pulled off the freeway. 
Cunningham walked over to the driver, whom she described as 
�sitting there with a blank stare.� He told her a man had 
pointed a gun at his window. He had been trying to flee.

�He was all shaken up,� Cunningham said.

In the meantime, Syed had returned to the pickup and exited the 
freeway at Edinger Avenue in Santa Ana. He rammed into another 
vehicle, slammed into a divider and abandoned the truck, 
authorities said. Then Syed approached a BMW waiting at a stop 
sign, his gun drawn.

Melvin L. Edwards, 69, was on his way to work at Rubicon Gear, a 
small family business that manufactures high-precision gears and 
shafts. Colleagues described the former U.S. Army combat 
infantry officer who served in Vietnam as easygoing, hardworking 
and generous with his employees.

Syed, authorities said, ordered Edwards out of the BMW and 
directed him to the curb. Edwards cooperated. But Syed allegedly 
fired three times anyway, killing Edwards.

Cunningham came across the crime scene before she returned to 
the freeway. She saw a man with a bloodied chest and brown boots.

�I'll never forget those brown boots,� she said.

The gunman was nowhere in sight.

Syed had sped away in the BMW to a Micro Center computer store 
in Tustin. About 5:40, workers at a nearby Fairfield Inn 
construction site heard gunfire.

Tom Van Schindel, a project superintendent, said a plumbing 
supervisor spotted one of his co-workers being chased through an 
overflow parking lot and drove over to help him. The supervisor 
was shot in the arm, police said.

Syed, authorities said, shot and killed the supervisor�s KBL 
Plumbing co-worker. Jeremy Lewis, 26, of Fullerton, had just 
arrived for his 6 a.m. shift.

�He has a good heart. He showed up every day, on time, ready to 
do his share of work,� said Craig Heising, another project 
superintendent. �When I saw police pull the yellow tarp over 
him, I was just overwhelmed by the senselessness of it. It's a 
classic case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.�

Syed escaped in one of the site�s white work trucks. Just before 
6 a.m., California Highway Patrol officers caught up with him on 
the northbound 55 freeway. He exited on Katella Avenue. Near the 
intersection of East Katella and North Wanda Road, Jordan said, 
Syed hopped out of the vehicle �while it was still in motion.�

Syed raised his gun to his head and fired.

Around 7 a.m., Kenneth Caplin had made his way to his nearby 
office, where he had a clear view out his window. He surveyed 
the investigators at work and the white truck stranded at a 
curb. From under a yellow tarp, the shooter�s sneakers peeked 
out.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2013/02/oc-shootings-
college-student-attacked-randomly-police-say.html

--
Are you obligated as an armed civilian, to defend unarmed 
liberals while you are both under fire by foreign agents of the 
outlaw Obama administration?

No.  Shoot the liberals immediately so they can't stab you in 
the back while you are defending yourself, then return a 
controlled rate of aimed fire.  ��

��