SIMI VALLEY, Calif.- A suspect in a shooting that killed two people over the holiday weekend was chased into a Wal-Mart store Tuesday morning after wounding a sheriff’s deputy, authorities said.
The store was evacuated and about 40 to 50 officers surrounded it, sheriff’s Sgt. Patti Salas said.
In all, two people were killed and two wounded in the crime spree northwest of Los Angeles, and at least one vehicle was carjacked, authorities said. One of those shot was a onetime business partner of the suspect.
The deputy was shot while responding to a disturbance call in the Santa Rosa Valley area shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday. He was taken to a hospital, where he was awake and talking, Salas said.
The suspect was chased by patrol cars and a helicopter and ended up at the Wal-Mart store in Simi Valley, 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles, Salas said.
The site of the Tuesday shooting is about 10 miles northwest of the house in upscale Thousand Oaks where a man and a woman were killed and another man critically wounded Monday, Salas said.
The suspect was a former business partner to one of the original shooting victims, Salas said.
Neighbor Christina Leverentz said she heard several gunshots around 4 p.m. and saw the gunman run to a white pickup that was parked in front of her house.
“He was a young man, but I didn’t see a gun,” she said. “But I knew it was him. This is horrible. This is supposed to be the safest city in the nation.”
The gunman later abandoned his truck in a Vons supermarket parking lot and carjacked a second vehicle, authorities said.