Valley Shooting Rampage Ends Following Tense Manhunt

CANOGA PARK, CA — A shooting rampage that terrorized the San Fernando Valley Thursday ended after an intense manhunt that limited the death toll to four. Another two people were wounded before police could shop the hours-long shooting spree.

On high tactical alert, Los Angeles police Thursday afternoon arrested the man suspected of shooting six people in the San Fernando Valley Thursday morning. Gerry Dean Zaragoza, whom police warned the community was armed and dangerous, was arrested at the intersection of Canoga Avenue and Gault Street near Canoga Park.

Zaragoza, 26, is suspected of shooting his parents and brother in an apartment in Canoga Park before shooting two more people at a Shell gas station in the 6700 block of Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood. As the manhunt continued Thursday afternoon, police say he shot and killed another man inside an Orange Line bus at Victory and Woodley in Lake Balboa at approximately 1 p.m. Detectives believe the final killing was random.

Zaragoza's father Carlos, 50 and his 33-year-old brother died at the scene, but his mother is expected to recover from a bullet wound to the arm.

The names of the dead were not immediately released, although Zaragoza's father was identified by his boss, Michael Ramia.

"He told me (Gerry Zaragoza) wasviolent in the house. He was very violent," Ramia told reporters outside the Canoga Park apartment. "And I told Carlos, I said, `Carlos, get rid of him, you know? Just take him to rehab.'

"Today was his day off," Ramia said. "... He took the day off to get his eyes checked. He was in my office yesterday, and he (was) supposed to come to work tomorrow."

A woman believed to be an ex-girlfriend of Zaragoza died following the gas station shooting and another man shot at the scene is now fighting for his life, according to authorities.

The first shooting occurred about 2 a.m. at an apartment in the 21000 block of Roscoe Boulevard, the LAPD reported. Paramedics pronounced the two men dead at the scene and took a wounded woman -- Zaragoza's mother -- to a hospital in stable condition, the LAPD said.

See Also: Standoff At Northridge Dispensary Causes Roscoe Boulevard Delays

The second shooting occurred about 2:45 a.m. at a gas station in the 6700 block of Vineland Avenue, where a man and a woman were wounded, according to the LAPD.

Both victims were taken to a hospital, where the woman died and the man was in critical condition, police said.

At About 7:45 a.m., an attempted robbery possibly committed by Zaragoza occurred outside a bank at Sherman Way and Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Canoga Park, police said. Nobody is believed to have been injured in that hold-up, and it was unclear if the suspect got any money.

LAPD spokesman Josh Rubenstein said police believe Zaragoza and the two victims at the gas station were "acquaintances."

A person was detained for questioning in connection with the gas station shooting but was later released and is not a suspect in the case, Rubenstein said.

At about 1:50 p.m., a person was fatally shot aboard an Orange Line bus at Victory Boulevard and Woodley Avenue in Van Nuys, and a suspect generally matching the description of Zaragoza was seen running from the scene. A man who was on the bus told reporters the suspect shot the victim in the head for no apparent reason.

Police said there appeared to be no relation between Zaragoza and the person killed on the bus, indicating that shooting may have just been a random attack.

Los Angeles police responded in force, setting up a perimeter that stretched from Woodley to Haskell Avenue, between Victory and Vanowen Street. Officers were stationed at every intersection along the perimeter with orders to search every vehicle exiting the area.

The LAPD declared a tactical alert for its entire Valley Bureau as the search continued and about 2 p.m. Zaragoza was spotted in Canoga Park, about seven miles from the location of the bus shooting. He was taken into custody after "a small use of force" near the intersection of Canoga Avenue and Gault Street, according to Capt. William Hayes, commander of the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division.

NBC4 reported that police used a stun gun on Zaragoza during the arrest. The suspect was placed into an ambulance and taken to a hospital to be checked out.

A motive for the rampage was not immediately known.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.