The estranged spouse of a person suspected of killing 4 folks throughout a taking pictures rampage in Orange, California, final week mentioned she is devastated – and likewise fearful as a result of her household has been threatened.
“I don’t have the phrases to explain the ache and horror that this tragedy has precipitated me,” wrote Aleyda Mendoza in a prolonged textual content message to USA TODAY and different information retailers. “My coronary heart is crushed.”
Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez, 44, was arrested after a gun battle with officers on the cell residence gross sales workplace the place a 9-year-old boy and three others have been murdered Wednesday. Gaxiola, who was wounded within the trade, faces homicide and tried homicide costs.
Police haven’t decided a motive. Throughout an arraignment from his hospital mattress Friday, assistant public defender Ken Morrison mentioned his consumer had been unconscious and unable to talk for the reason that taking pictures. The listening to was continued till Monday pending an replace on Gaxiola’s situation.
Mendoza wrote that she nonetheless cannot settle for what occurred.
‘Horrific bloodbath’: Suspect locked entries, knew victims in lethal taking pictures
“I hold closing my eyes and praying to God that is all only a dangerous dream and I’ll get up quickly,” she wrote.
Mendoza wrote that she had not been involved with Gaxiola since they have been separated about two years in the past.
“It hurts me much more figuring out my ex-husband was able to doing such a horrible factor,” she added. “He left behind a sea of ache and grief for thus many households who can’t discover consolation.”
The bloodbath is the most recent in a string of mass shootings throughout the nation after a lull amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The carnage passed off every week after a gunman in Boulder, Colorado, killed 10 folks at a grocery store. The week earlier than that, a gunman within the Atlanta space killed eight folks, most of them ladies of Asian descent, at three spas.
In California, police say Gaxiola lived in a close-by motel and arrived on the scene, about 30 miles south of Los Angeles, in a rented automobile. He locked gates to the workplace suite earlier than the assault, and responding officers heard gunshots ring out and referred to as a sergeant to deliver bolt cutters.
‘He took the bullets for her’: Dad grieves 9-year-old son, discovered useless in mother’s arms
Safety video contained in the workplace confirmed the gunman carrying a bandana over his face, armed with a semiautomatic handgun and carrying a backpack that authorities mentioned contained pepper spray, handcuffs and ammunition.
The victims have been recognized as Luis Tovar, 50, who owned Unified Properties; Leticia Solis Guzman, 58; and Jenevieve Raygoza, 28, and her brother, Matthew Farias, 9.
Farias died within the arms of his mom, Blanca Tamayo, a Unified Properties worker who was the shot however survived. Tamayo mentioned Matthew was normally at day care after college, however Wednesday afternoon he was along with her. When police arrived Tamayo was cradling her useless son.
Tovar had a earlier relationship with Tamayo, and so they have been Raygoza’s dad and mom.
“By no means in our wildest desires did we expect this might occur,” Alec Torres, a associate at Unified Properties who was not within the workplace on the time, advised the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles. “We have been shocked to search out out it was him. There was by no means any dangerous blood.”
Mendoza mentioned she has labored at Unified Properties greater than a decade and views the proprietor and workers as household.
“I discovered every thing I do know there and so they formed who I’m in the present day,” she wrote. “They at all times supported me and have been there for me and my kids at any time when I wanted them most.”
Mendoza mentioned she has obtained threatening telephone calls for the reason that taking pictures, including, “Now my kids and I concern for our lives.”
Contributing: Christal Hayes, USA TODAY; The Related Press