Four separate shootings have hit 7-Eleven stores on July 11 in southern California, and at least three may be connected, according to police.
The first shooting occurred at a 7-Eleven on La Sierra Avenue around 1:50am, where Riverside Police Department officers found a customer suffering from a gunshot wound to the head and was taken to the hospital in grave condition, according to CBS News. The store clerk who called the police was unharmed, and the suspect reportedly stole several items.
The second shooting happened on North Spurgeon Street around 3:25am, where “a lone male victim was discovered lying in the parking lot with a fatal gunshot wound to his upper torso,” according to Santa Ana Police Department officials.
The third shooting occurred around 4:18am on West Lambert Road, where a clerk was killed during a robbery. “We want to send our deepest condolences to the family of the victim who lost their life during today’s tragic incidents,” Brea Police Department said.
The fourth shooting happened in La Habra before 5:00am on East Whittier Boulevard, where a 7-Eleven employee and one customer were in stable condition after receiving gunshot wounds.
According to CBS, law enforcement in La Habra, Brea, and Santa Ana believe that the incidents are connected. The shootings occurred on Monday, July 11, when 7-Eleven allows customers to get a free Slurpee.
“Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones,” 7-Eleven said in a statement. “We are gathering information on this terrible tragedy and working with local law enforcement.”
The incidents occur as surging crime grips California. Property crimes and violent crimes surged in Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, and San Francisco last year, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, while homicides surged 17% across the four cities.
In recent months, flash mob robberies have forced various stores to close locations. According to a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation last year, San Francisco is the fifth-most affected city by “organized retail crime.”
“Organized retail crime continues to be a challenge facing retailers across San Francisco, and we are not immune to that,” Walgreens spokesman Phil Caruso explained last year. “Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued to increase in the past few months to five times our chain average. During this time to help combat this issue, we increased our investments in security measures in stores across the city to 46 times our chain average in an effort to provide a safe environment.”
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who eliminated cash bail and shifted priorities away from prosecuting shoplifters, was successfully recalled last month by the city’s voters. Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón likewise faces a recall as over 715,000 citizens signed a petition to begin the process, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“Perhaps worse than any one specific policy, Gascón has sent a loud and clear message to criminals that he will always have their backs, whether that means lowering sentences or declining to prosecute certain crimes altogether,” a spokesperson for the Recall DA George Gascón campaign told The Daily Wire in May. “That mentality has turned the streets of Los Angeles into a living nightmare — criminals feel emboldened, residents feel unsafe, and victims feel completely betrayed. That is why you see convicted killers saying they are going to tattoo Gascón name on their forehead or toasting Gascón with homemade alcohol from inside a prison cell.”