Four California 7-Eleven stores shot up on free Slurpee day

Gunfire at multiple 7-Eleven stores in California killed two people and injured another three before dawn on the convenience chain’s most prolific day of the year.  

Authorities said the shootings on Monday appeared to occur after robberies or attempted robberies at four of the stores on the day when the national 7-Eleven brand offers free Slurpee drinks to celebrate its birthday.

The shootings occurred in the cities of Riverside, Santa Ana, Brea and La Habra, and a lone gunman is being sought in the three incidents outside of Riverside so far, police said.  

“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 gun violence that turned fatal occurred in Santa Ana and Brea, the second and third shootings, according to police agencies.

Santa Ana officers responded to gunfire around 3:20 a.m. and found a man dead in the parking lot with one gunshot wound to his upper torso, according to Sgt. Maria Lopez, a department spokesperson.

“At this moment, we don’t believe he was an employee. We don’t really know yet what he was doing there in a parking lot, if he was a potential customer or just walking by,” Lopez said.

The violence appeared to involve a robbery with the suspect caught on video dropping items that belonged to the victim, police said.

Lopez said the same person then traveled 12 miles where a 7-Eleven worker was shot dead in Brea from a gunshot wound to the head.

Brea Police Captain Phil Rodriguez said officers responded to one gunshot victim and then found the employee also wounded. He was later pronounced dead.

Authorities said that incident too was connected to a robbery.

Brea police posted photos of the suspect on social media showing a man with a mask, a black sweatshirt and a hood over his head.  

An hour later officers in La Habra responded to a reported robbery at another 7-Eleven where they found two gunshot victims, police said there. The conditions of those victims were not disclosed.

“We feel confident that it is the same suspect,” Rodriguez said.

The first 7-Eleven shooting, where no one was killed but one person was left in grave condition, occurred around 1:50 a.m., police said. It has not officially been connected to the ensuing three shootings though, Riverside police officer Ryan Railsback said.

“I think the only person to answer that would be the suspect,” Railsback said when addressing a motive and speculating why the violence broke out Monday. “There’s no way it can be a coincidence of it being 7-Eleven, July 11.”

The gunman in Riverside robbed the store clerk and brandished a weapon before he fired at a customer inside, police said.

Railsback said the cases were odd because criminals typically don’t rob convenience stores overnight because the businesses don’t have much cash on hand.  

“They all seem very, very similar,” Railsback said of all four shootings.

With Post wires