Fullerton Man Charged In Mass Shooting In The City Of Orange

ORANGE, CA —Fullerton resident Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez, 44, will answer to charges of four felony counts of murder after a mass shooting in the city of Orange in late March. He has been hospitalized and largely unconscious since the attack on the Orange business complex where he was fired upon by police officers at the end of the event.

The Orange County District Attorney's office has filed one felony count of attempted murder, and two felony counts of attempted murder of a police officer against Gonzales.

Gonzales is accused of shooting and killing four people at the business complex, including a 9-year-old boy, and attempting to kill three more people Wednesday evening after chaining the gates of an Orange business complex closed has been charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder.

He suffered gunshot wounds after opening fire on two Orange police officers and has been hospitalized since March.

Gaxiola has also been charged with four felony enhancements of the personal discharge of a firearm causing death, one felony enhancement of the personal discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury, one felony enhancement of premeditation, one felony enhancement of the personal use of a firearm, one felony enhancement of the personal discharge of a firearm.

Prosecutors are also alleging the special circumstance of multiple murders. Gaxiola is eligible for the death penalty.

Gaxiola remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition. He was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday from his hospital bed, with the hearing live-streamed from Department C5.

On Wednesday, March 31, around 5:34 p.m. a 911 caller reported a man shooting into a business at 202 W. Lincoln Avenue in the City of Orange.

Police arrived minutes later to find the gates to the business’ courtyard locked with a bicycle cable-type lock, preventing officers from accessing the property. A man, later identified as Gaxiola, is accused of shooting at the two officers, who returned fire. Gaxiola was wounded.

Officers used bolt cutters to cut the locks and found four people who had been shot to death within the business complex, including a 9-year-old boy. A man and two women were also found dead. A third woman was wounded and taken to a hospital, where she remains in critical but stable condition.

Police allege the defendant specifically targeted Unified Homes, a real estate company selling manufactured homes, and was acquainted either personally or professionally with all of the victims, who were identified by police as 50-year-old company co-owner Luis Tovar; his daughter, 28-year-old Jenevieve Raygoza; 9-year-old Matthew Farias; and company employee Leticia Solis Guzman, 58.

Raygoza, who worked for her father's company, is survived by her husband and two young children. The boy's mother, Blanca Ismeralda Tamayo, remains hospitalized in critical condition.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the child's family pay for funeral costs and had raised more than $44,000 as of Monday. The boy's father, Rafael Arias, told ABC7 that his only child had hoped to be an astronaut or a police officer.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer spoke on the mass shooting incident.

“Our hearts are shattered into a million pieces as the community mourns the loss of four innocent lives, including a young boy, as a result of the horrific events that unfolded Wednesday evening and we pray for the recovery of the sole survivor,” Spitzer said. “The taking of the life of another human being is the most serious of crimes and the slaughter of multiple people while they were essentially locked in a shooting gallery is nothing short of terrifying. We ask our sworn police officers to answer calls for help and race into dangerous situations. Thankfully the police officers who answered the call that day escaped injury. The residents of Orange County can rest assured that the District Attorney’s Office is taking every possible step to ensure that every aspect of this case and the subsequent officer-involved shooting is thoroughly reviewed and that justice will be served for each and every victim.”

"The Orange County District Attorney’s Office continues to investigate the officer-involved shooting that occurred during this incident, as is standard with officer-involved shootings and custodial deaths involving the Orange Police Department," a spokesperson for the OCDA's office says.

The legal conclusions and any relevant body-worn camera footage will be published on the District Attorney’s website at www.orangecountyda.org once the investigation is completed.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Mena Guirguis of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.