The motive in the deadly Orange County crime spree is still not known, according to Santa Ana police. Anoushah Rasta reports July 11, 2022.
An employee was killed in a shooting at a Brea 7-Eleven early Monday morning, and authorities believe the incident may be related to another that took place in La Habra the same day.
Around 4:18 a.m. Monday, police arrived at the 7-Eleven convenience store on Lambert Road and North Brea Boulevard, after receiving a call about an employee that may have been struck by gunfire.
When the officers arrived to the store, they found a male store clerk with a gunshot wound, injured as the result of a robbery turned deadly.
That clerk, who has not yet been identified by police, was pronounced dead at the scene.
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"Our preliminary investigation suggests that the clerk was killed during a robbery," the Brea Police Department said in a statement on Twitter. "We later learned that a similar incident took place at a 7-Eleven at La Habra."
That La Habra incident, which took place around 4:55 a.m., did not end in any deaths, but two people were injured including a longtime employee of that store. They were transported to a hospital.
According to Brea police, the two incidents may be related, and Brea police are working with authorities in La Habra to investigate. After an 11 a.m. press conference, authorities released a photo of the suspected shooter in both stores.
No information about any other injuries in the Brea 7-Eleven shooting, or about the condition of the injured victims in La Habra, was immediately available.
The Brea shooting and La Habra shooting were one of at least four shootings at 7-Eleven stores around SoCal on Monday. Another shooting took place in Santa Ana, and a fourth shooting took place in Riverside.
Authorities cannot confirm whether all four incidents are connected, but that is being investigated, authorities said at the Monday press conference.
Brea and La Habra officers believe those two incidents are linked, with the same suspect, based on "preliminary evidence."
Monday is July 11, which the convenience store chain celebrates as "7/11 Day" or "Slurpee Day" by providing free Slurpees to customers.
There is not a confirmed link between the date and the shootings.
