By Rich McKay
(Reuters) - California police on Thursday were trying to determine why a man went on a stabbing and robbery spree in two communities near Los Angeles the previous day, killing four people and wounding two others in what appeared to be a random outburst of violence.
"I've worked here for 30 years and I've never seen anything like this," said Garden Grove Police Lieutenant Carl Whitney. "It is pure evil."
Police said they captured the 33-year-old man who has not yet been identified. Whitney said the incidents appeared to be random acts of violence. "Our suspect was not associated with any of the victims," he said.
The crime spree began when the 33-year-old suspect stabbed two of his neighbours to death outside a Garden Grove apartment complex on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said. Both men were stabbed multiple times and both died from their wounds.
Shortly after that, the suspect, who was driving a silver Mercedes, robbed a bakery in Garden Grove, and police started receiving more calls about a man armed with a knife.
Later, police got another call at a check cashing business, also in Garden Grove, where the suspect took cash after threatening victims with a knife.
The man fled that scene in the Mercedes and drove into nearby Santa Ana, where he is suspected of attacking and fatally wounding a man in a Subway restaurant, police said.
The last alleged attack was next door at a 7-Eleven, where he stabbed and killed a security guard. He then used his knife to cut the security guard's gun from his belt, and came out of the store armed with both the knife and gun.
As he left the convenience store, police confronted the man, Whitney said, and took him into custody.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by David Gregorio)