LA Times: Syed shouted at the man to get out of the car and pointed a shotgun at him, Jordan said. The man fled in his car and Syed opened fire, striking the man in the back of the head through a back window. The man escaped and was later hospitalized, but his condition was not known Tuesday afternoon.
Syed then went to a Mobil station across the street, where another man was pumping gas, Jordan said.
"When they made eye contact, Syed started running toward the victim," he said. "I don't want to hurt you."
Syed stole the Dodge pickup, and headed north on the 5 Freeway to the 55 Freeway, Jordan said. There, he stopped the car on the shoulder and began firing at motorists. 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.
During that freeway gunfire, at least three vehicles were hit. Two drivers suffered damage to their cars, the third sustained injuries to his mouth or hand, though officials stressed it could have been from debris from the car and not necessarily bullets. That man, a Tustin resident, didn?t have a cellphone, but drove home and called police.
Syed got back in the Dodge pickup and continued driving on the 55 Freeway, exiting at Edinger Avenue in Santa Ana, where authorities said he rammed another pickup and crashed onto a center divider, got out and headed toward a BMW stopped at a stop sign.
"He orders him out of the vehicle, walks him to the side of the curb and executes our victim,? Bertagna said.
Santa Ana Police Chief Carlos Rojas identified the man as Melvin Lee Edwards, 69, of?Laguna Hills, who was on his way to work when he was killed.
Edwards, 69, was the chairman of Rubicon Gear in Tustin, located not far from where he was shot. The family-run business manufactures high-precision gears and shafts, and was founded by Edwards' father.
Edwards graduated from USC and is a former U.S. Army combat infantry officer who served in Vietnam, according to Rubicon Gear's website.
From there, Syed drove to the Micro Center computer store in Tustin, where he came across a white utility truck with a man inside. "There was another confrontation," Jordan said, and that man was shot and killed.
That victim was identified by police as Jeremy Lewis, 26, of Fullerton. Co-workers said Lewis, a plumber, was one of 70 to 80 people finishing work on the Fairfield Inn and a neighboring Marriott Residence Inn.
Project superintendent Craig Heising called Lewis "a good guy" with a "good heart."
"He showed up every day, on time, ready to do his share of work. When I saw police pull the yellow tarp over him ... I was just overwhelmed by the senselessness of it," Heising said. "It's a classic case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time."
Other workers saw what was happening and went to the parking lot, trying to figure out what was going on, police said. Syed told another plumber to run, Jordan said.
"He took off running and he too was shot," Jordan said.
The condition of that man, who was wounded in the arm, was not known Tuesday afternoon. Syed took the utility truck and continued north on the 55 Freeway.
At this point, Jordan said, "many calls were coming in" and California Highway Patrol officers were preparing to stop the stolen vehicle. Syed exited the freeway at Katella Avenue and headed toward Wanda Road.
As he approached that intersection, Syed immediately got out of the still-moving vehicle, Jordan said.
?Mr. Syed exited his vehicle while it was still in motion,? he said. ?Almost instantly, he took the shotgun, put it to his head and killed himself.?
4 dead, including gunman, in southern California shooting spree FOX News (thanks to Van)
Authorities say a shooting spree through Orange County, Calif., has left four people dead, including the shooter, and two others injured before the man stopped and shot himself to death in a stolen car, police said.
The shootings began early Tuesday morning when deputies responded to a call in Ladera Ranch, a sleepy inland town about 55 miles southeast of Los Angeles. They found a woman shot multiple times.
Police have identified the gunman as Ali Syed, a 20-year-old unemployed part-time student. Police say Syed lived at the Laderaa Ranch residence where the first victim was killed.
Jason Glass, who lives across the street, said he couldn't sleep and was watching TV in his garage with the door partly open when he heard what sounded like gun shots.
Then he heard a commotion and the sound of a car speeding away.
The suspect, described as a man in his 20s, fled the scene in an SUV, according to the LA Times.
Three more people were fatally shot in the next 25 minutes after carjackings in Tustin and Santa Ana.
"There are multiple (crime) scenes throughout Tustin and the surrounding areas," said Tustin Police Lt. Paul Garaven.
Police say there were a total of six shooting scenes across the county.
From Ladera Ranch, police said the gunman headed north and within 30 minutes carjacked a Dodge pickup truck in Tustin, about 20 miles away. The driver was uninjured, but a bystander was hit by gunfire and taken to a hospital.
The suspect then began firing at vehicles in the area where Interstate 5 and State Route 55 connect.
Three people reported being targeted, including one who suffered a minor injury, Tustin police Lt. Paul Garaven said. Two cars were damaged.
When the truck got low on gas, the gunman stopped at State Route 55 and McFadden Avenue in Santa Ana, stole the BMW and killed the driver, Bertagna said.
The shooter then drove to a Tustin business called Micro Center and carjacked another small truck, killing one person and wounding another, Garaven said.
Authorities located the suspect in a stolen vehicle and followed him to the city of Orange, according to Garaven. When police stopped him, the suspect shot himself at an intersection. Police recovered a shotgun from the scene.
Garaven says the suspect succeeded in stealing a vehicle at each carjacking.
"There have been other people coming forward saying they were shot at or their cars were shot at," he said, but so far none had reported any serious injury.
The conditions of the wounded victims were unknown.
A spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol said they didn't have any active crime scenes on the freeway but the southbound 55 McFadden Avenue off-ramp would be closed until further notice.
The motive for the shootings is still unclear and it's also unclear if the victims knew each other or the shooter.
"I do not believe any of the victims are related to each other. It might have been a random thing," he said. "We just don't know."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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