GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — The suspect in a deadly Southern California stabbing rampage was charged Friday with four counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and other counts.
Zachary Castaneda was arrested Wednesday by police responding to two hours of slashing and stabbing attacks in the cities of Garden Grove and Santa Ana.
He was scheduled for an afternoon arraignment in Orange County Superior Court.
Other charges among the 11 felonies filed were assault with a deadly weapon to cause great bodily injury, aggravated mayhem, robbery and burglary.
It wasn’t immediately known if Castaneda had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
A chilling security video released by police showed a man walk into an office, step up to a woman at a desk, pull two large knives and savagely attack her.
She shielded herself with her hands before finally cowering in a corner with a barrier of two office chairs.
The woman survived but police said four men died and a second person was wounded in the bizarre rampage in an apartment and small businesses.
Court records show that Castaneda was a gang member with a criminal history of assault and weapon and drug crimes.
The 33-year-old Garden Grove man was covered in blood when he was taken into custody after walking out of a 7-Eleven store and dropping a knife and a gun that he’d cut from the belt of a security guard he’d just killed.
Castaneda was kept in restraints as detectives tried to interview him.
“He remained violent with us through the night,” Garden Grove Police Chief Tom DaRe said. “He never told us why he did this.”
Castaneda’s criminal history dates back to 2004 and includes prison stints for possession of methamphetamine for sale while armed with an assault rifle and car theft.
Castaneda was convicted in 2009 of spousal abuse and paroled after serving about a year in prison, corrections officials said.
Whitney said police had previously gone to Castaneda’s apartment to deal with a child custody issue. The suspect’s mother had been living with him and had once asked police how she could evict her son, Garden Grove police Lt. Carl Whitney said.
Court records show his wife, Yessica Rodriguez, sought a restraining order last year after she said Castaneda threw a beer can at her 16-year-old daughter. She said she also sought an order against him in 2009 when he broke her arm during a fight.
Rodriguez filed for divorce earlier this year, court records show, and has custody of two sons, ages 7 and 12.
Police believe Castaneda killed two men at the apartment complex where he lived about an hour after burglarizing their unit, then robbed businesses, including the Garden Grove insurance agency where the 54-year-old woman was stabbed. She was hospitalized in critical but stable condition, police said.
Castaneda is alleged to also have robbed a check-cashing business next door to the insurance agency but left the woman there unharmed.
Later, a man pumping gas at a Chevron station was attacked without warning and slashed so badly that his nose was nearly severed, police said. He was in stable condition.
