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Orange Shooting: 9-Year-Old Boy Killed, Victims Had Business Relationship With Suspect
A screenshot from surveillance video police say shows shooting suspect Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez inside Unified Homes. (Courtesy of Orange Police Department)
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The four people who were killed Wednesday evening in a shooting in Orange had personal and business relationships with the suspect, officials said.
The shooting occurred around 5:30 p.m. when officers from the Orange Police Department responded to a report of shots fired at a building at 202 W. Lincoln Ave., according to Orange PD spokesperson Lt. Jennifer Amat.
When authorities arrived, police found the gates to the two-story office building, which has an interior courtyard, chained closed from the inside, she said.
Officers exchanged fire with the shooter and eventually forced open the gates. Inside, they found two victims in the courtyard, along with the alleged shooter, who was wounded.
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Amat identified the suspect as Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez, 44, and said authorities believe he's been living in an Anaheim motel. Gaxiola is in critical but stable condition at a local hospital, she said.
The victims include an adult man, two adult women and a 9-year-old boy, according to Amat. Two of the victims were found inside the offices of Unified Homes, a mobile home dealer.
The boy -- believed to be the the son of one of the victims who worked at Unified Homes -- was found in the arms of a woman who was also shot. She is hospitalized in critical but stable condition, Amat said.
Authorities will release the names of the victims "as soon as they're available," she said, noting that the coroner is still working to identify them.
There is video footage that shows Gaxiola inside the business, but it will not be released immediately, Amat said.
Police recovered a semi-automatic handgun at the scene, and a backpack containing pepper spray, handcuffs and ammunition, she said.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said Gaxiola could be eligible for the death penalty.
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Gaxiola was charged in 2015 with cruelty to a child, assault with a deadly weapon, dissuading a witness from reporting a crime and battery, according to Anaheim city spokesperson Mike Lyster.
Gaxiola pleaded guilty to the battery charge and the remaining charges were dismissed, Lyster said. He was sentenced to one day in jail, and the court issued a protective order requiring peaceful contact between Gaxiola and others involved in the case.
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