California shooting rampage leaves 4 dead across 25 miles

TUSTIN, Calif. - A rampage that left four dead in suburban Orange County began in the predawn hours Tuesday when a 20-year-old killed a woman in his home and sped away in his parents' car, authorities said.

An hour later, it was over - but not before Ali Syed had killed two more people during carjackings, shot up vehicles on a freeway interchange, and left three others injured in a trail of carnage that stretched 25 miles.

One driver was forced from his BMW at a stop sign, marched to a curb, and shot in the back of the head as other commuters watched in horror.

"He was basically executed," Santa Ana Police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.

Syed later killed himself. He lived with his parents at the Ladera Ranch residence where the first victim, an unidentified woman in her 20s, was slain, Tustin Police Chief Scott Jordan said. He was unemployed, taking one class at a local community college, Jordan said.

The woman was not related to the shooter. Syed's parents were in the house at the time, fled the residence when shots were fired, and reported it, a sheriff's spokesman said.

Jordan said there was no indication of a motive.

The violence began at 4:45 a.m., when deputies responded to a call from Ladera Ranch, a sleepy town 55 miles southeast of Los Angeles. They found the woman shot multiple times.

From Ladera Ranch, police said, the gunman headed north and pulled off I-5 in Tustin, about 20 miles away, with a flat tire and other damage to his parents' car.

A man who was waiting in a shopping center parking lot to carpool with his son saw Syed had a gun and tried to escape in his Cadillac, Jordan said. Syed ran after the car as it drove away and fired his shotgun through the back window, striking the driver in the head but not killing him.

After Syed took a vehicle, he got back on the freeway, where he pulled to the side of the road at the I-5 and State Route 55 interchange and began firing at commuters, Jordan said.

One driver was struck in the mouth and hands. He was able to drive home and call police. Two other cars were hit, but their drivers were not injured.

The shooter then approached Melvin Edwards, a 69-year-old from Laguna Hills who was on his way to his Santa Ana business, as Edwards sat in his BMW at a stop sign. Syed forced Edwards to get out of his car, marched him across the street and shot him three times, including in the back of the head and the back, as horrified drivers looked on, Jordan said.

Syed also killed construction worker Jeremy Lewis, 26, of Fullerton, Jordan said. Lewis' coworker rushed to intervene and was shot in the arm.