By ALMA FAUSTO | DAILY BREEZE
A man who authorities say “unleashed evil” across two Orange County cities when he went on a stabbing spree in Garden Grove and Santa Ana, leaving four dead and two wounded, was identified Thursday as a 33-year-old gang member who has a vast criminal history dating back several years.
Investigators were seeking to determine what allegedly motivated Zachary Castaneda to target the victims Wednesday in what was described by police as a series of random attacks, and which marked a spasm of deadly violence not seen in Orange County for years.ADVERTISING
“There was no indication this was a hate crime,” Garden Grove Police Lt. Carl Whitney said. “We just know this was a random act of violence and the guy unleashed evil across our two cities.”
This photo provided by Erwin Hauprich shows Erwin Hauprich and his father Helmuth Hauprich, right. Erwin Hauprich says his father died at a hospital Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019 after he and his roommate were attacked at their Garden Grove, Calif., apartment. Police have arrested a 33-year-old man they say stabbed, slashed and robbed his way across two Southern California cities in a bloody rampage. (Erwin Hauprich via AP)
Three of the dead were identified by authorities Thursday afternoon as Pascual Rioja Lorenzo, 39, and Helmuth Hauprich, 62, both of Garden Grove, and Robert Parker, 58, of Orange. The name of the other fatal victim has not been released.
Despite the deaths, Garden Grove Police Chief Tom DaRe credited the mass police presence, saying that it could have been worse.
“Had the suspect continued his rampage he could have injured or killed many other innocent people,” DaRe said.
The rash of violence is the deadliest seen in Orange County in recent years. The four dead are all men; two others were hospitalized – a 54-year-old woman and 44-year-old man.
Castaneda was being held in lieu of $1 million, according to jail records.
Authorities say the crimes started as robberies, the first a residential burglary at around 4 p.m., and ended about two hours later when the suspect was arrested outside a 7-Eleven in Santa Ana.
Officers also found weapons at the scene, one of them appearing to be a large knife.
The timeline
The initial call at about 4:09 p.m. was from the apartment complex at 12162 Jentges Avenue where Castaneda lives. A caller reported his apartment had been burglarized and the suspect – later identified as Castaneda – had fled.
At around 4:23 p.m. a caller reported that a man with a gun had robbed a bakery less than a mile away at 13040 Chapman Avenue. The caller reported seeing the suspect leaving in a silver Mercedes.
Minutes later at 5:04 p.m. someone called police reporting that two men had been stabbed at an apartment at 12162 Jentges Avenue, the scene of the original burglary. Police say the suspect returned to the apartment.
When officers arrived they found the men, who were roommates, stabbed several times, one inside and the other outside the home. One of the men was pronounced dead on scene while the other was taken to a hospital but died shortly after. Hauprich was one of those victims.
At 5:39 p.m. a man matching Castaneda’s description threatened the clerk with a knife and stole cash from a customer inside a Cash & More at 12845 Chapman Avenue. By then, police had broadcast the license plate of the suspect’s car to police units.
Minutes later at 6:06 p.m., a silent robbery alarm went off at Best One Insurance in the 12800 block of Harbor Boulevard. The alarm company reported that a live camera feed from the business saw a female employee down on the ground and heavily bleeding. A fellow employee reported the 54-year-old woman had been stabbed multiple times by someone who also matched the description of the suspect. She was taken to a hospital and was in critical condition.
Whitney described the incident as a “savage attack.” He described how she sat at her desk while Castaneda, without provocation, repeatedly stabbing her with a knife in each hand.
“Nobody expects to go to an insurance company to be attacked and almost killed,” Whitney said.
The insurance store at the busy strip mall was closed Thursday. A black tarp covered the windows from inside.
At 6:09 p.m. Wednesday, police received several calls about another stabbing at the Chevron gas station in the 13300 block of Harbor Boulevard about one-half mile away from the previous stabbing. A 44-year-old man was pumping gas, as was Castaneda. At some point, the suspect pulled out two knives and attacked the victim, nearly severing his nose and stabbing him in the back, police said.
“Our suspect … after he attacked this guy savagely, returned to his vehicle, finished pumping gas … and then he drove off southbound,” Whitney said.
The victim was rushed to a hospital and was undergoing surgery to try to reattach his nose. He was expected to survive.
At 6:16 p.m. the spree moved to Santa Ana., where officers were called to a Subway at the 3800 block of First Street after a man matching the suspect’s description stabbed another man multiple times. The man, later identified as Lorenzo, died from his injuries. Castaneda then moved his rampage across the street to a 7-Eleven in the 100 block of Harbor Boulevard, police said.
Undercover detectives found Castaneda’s silver Mercedes at about 6:25 p.m. and called for backup when they saw him leave the convenience store armed with a large knife and handgun. They ordered him to drop his weapons and he complied and was taken into custody.
After the arrest, customers at the store told detectives there was a security guard stabbed inside the store. Witnesses told police the suspect stabbed the guard several times then cut the gun from the man’s belt. The guard, later identified as Park, was gravely wounded. Officers did CPR and he was taken to a trauma center but succumbed to his injuries.
“All we have to say is that Robert Parker was a good man,” said a woman who identified herself as a family member and answered the door in tears at Robert Parker’s home in Orange next door neighbor. “He was a gentle giant.”
The security guard’s next door neighbor, Denise Raniday, described him as a dependable person who could be trusted in an emergency. She recalled one incident when he helped rush Raniday’s sister to the hospital in the middle of the night.
“You felt better that he was around,” she said. “He was an asset to the neighborhood.”
A criminal past
Court records show Castaneda has been charged with several felony and misdemeanor crimes in past years, some in 2019, including felony counts for criminal street gang vandalism, possession of a controlled substance, carrying a dirk or dagger and buying or receiving a stolen vehicle.
Over the years he’s racked up busts for drugs, car thefts and parole violations. He also has a domestic violence record that dates back to 2009.
According to jail records as recently as last month, Castaneda was arrested twice on suspicion of non-violent offenses – and released twice.
At a news conference on Thursday, Chief Tom DaRe said Castaneda should not have been eligible for release under the AB109 inmate-realignment legislation, police said.
“This person should have been in prison and not allowed to be in our community,” Garden Grove Police Chief Tom DaRe said.
“California law enforcement agencies have been crippled by AB109, and offenders are not being held accountable for their crimes,” he said. “Our community becomes vulnerable when these criminals are released back into our society.”
However, state prison officials said Thursday that Zachary Castaneda was not released early from prison. He was freed after serving his full term, said Luis Patino Jr., corrections spokesman.
Castaneda was sentenced to a total of four years in state prison for 14 convictions that included mostly drug possessions and the possession of a firearm, an assault weapon and ammunition by a felon.
He was eligible to earn one day of additional credit for each day served, which cut his sentence in half, Patino said.
Castaneda went to prison on September 30, 2014 and was released for supervision by the Orange County Probation Department on January 14, 2016.
See also: Stabbing spree deaths lead to renewed criticism of AB109, but suspect was not released early
In January 2018, Castaneda’s wife filed for a restraining order against him. The wife alleged in her request for a restraining order that Castaneda had gotten into a verbal argument with her late New Year’s Eve and early New Year’s Day, began throwing things in the midst of a rant and struck her 16-year-old daughter with a beer can.
The wife, in the request for a restraining order, also mentioned the 2009 domestic violence incident, when, she wrote, Castaneda broke her arm during an argument while their children were asleep, leading her mother to call an ambulance.
In February, the wife filed for divorce, listing two children of the couple, a 12-year-old boy and a 7-year-old boy. She cited irreconcilable differences between the two of them. Last Friday, the wife asked a judge to approve a “default or uncontested judgment” in the divorce case, but no hearings were scheduled in court records.
Police tape Thursday morning blocked off the entrance to the Jentges Avenue apartment building where police say Castaneda stabbed two men to death the night before. A Garden Grove police trailer was parked right outside, and detectives in suits could be seen moving in and out of the building as they continued their investigation into the violent spree.
The aftermath
Jose Gonzalez, 21, lives in the building with a roommate. He moved in about a month ago. He said he was working late last night when he came home to find police blocking off his street. He didn’t know if the suspect lived at his building or who the victims were, but was shocked when he learned the news.
“You never know who you’re living next to,” Gonzalez said.
Whitney said Castaneda was combative being interviewed by detectives. He had to be restrained multiple times and at one point freed himself from his handcuffs.
“He remained violent with us through the night,” Whitney said. “He never told us why he did this.”
