Signage is seen outside a 7-Eleven store, a subsidiary of Seven & i Holdings Co., in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., Monday, Aug. 3, 2020. Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The first robbery happened around midnight in Ontario, about 35 miles east of Los Angeles. According to Ontario Cpl, the masked man pointed a gun at the store clerk and demanded money. Emily Hernandez. He did not fire and the employee was not injured. It was not immediately clear to investigators what, if anything, was stolen. The second robbery happened about 45 minutes later in Upland, less than 5 miles away from the Ontario store. The suspect approached the store clerk with a few items, “some drinks and stuff” and brandished a semi-automatic weapon, Upland Sgt. Jake Kirk said. The man stole the items and about $400 to $500 in cash and ran away. No shots were fired. Surveillance photos released by Upland and Brea police show a masked man wearing a black sweatshirt with a hood over his head. The sweatshirt had white lettering with green leaves on the front. While police in La Habra, Brea and Santa Ana said they believe they are looking for the same suspect, officials in Ontario, Upland and Riverside have yet to make a decision — though they said they were aware of the other crimes at 7-Eleven stores . “It could possibly be the same person, but we’re not confirming that right now,” Kirk said. About an hour after the Upland robbery and 25 miles away in Riverside, a gunman brandished a gun and robbed a 7-Eleven employee, then pointed the gun at a customer, opened fire and fled, Railsback said. Police believe the clerk handed over cash from the register. The shooting victim was in critical condition. “There doesn’t appear to be any reason the suspect shot the customer,” Railsback said. “Sounds like the clerk gave him what he asked for.” Railsback said criminals typically know that convenience store robberies rarely yield large amounts of money, especially at night. “If you go visit a liquor store or a 7-Eleven or a fast food place, you’re not going to get a lot of cash out of it,” he said. “It’s kind of weird that they would do that.” Another shooting occurred around 3:20 a.m. about 24 miles away in Santa Ana, authorities said. Officers who responded there reported shots fired and found a man dead in the 7-Eleven parking lot with a gunshot wound to his upper torso, according to Santa Ana Sgt. Maria Lopez. “At this time, we don’t believe it was an employee,” Lopez said of the victim. “We still don’t really know what he was doing there in a parking lot, whether he was a potential customer or just passing through.” Surveillance video shows the suspect dropping items — believed to be the victim’s belongings — as he fled, Lopez said. About 40 minutes later, an employee at the 7-Eleven in Brea was shot and killed, Brea Police Chief Phil Rodriguez said. Less than an hour later, officers in neighboring La Habra were dispatched to a reported robbery at a 7-Eleven. They discovered two gunshot victims around 4:55 a.m., according to Sgt. Sumner Bohee. Authorities have not released the condition of the victims.
