SANTA ANA, Calif. — Two men will be charged in connection to three fatal shootings, gunfire that left others severely injured and various robberies largely targeting 7-Elevens a week ago across Southern California, officials said on Monday, July 18.
Malike Patt, 20 will be charged in Orange County Superior Court for allegedly taking part in a series of July 11 crimes that left two people dead and three others seriously wounded, as well as a homicide in Los Angeles two days earlier.
Jason Payne, 44, will be charged as well, although his alleged role in the two sets of crimes has not been laid out by prosecutors yet.
Patt will be charged with three counts of murder with special-circumstances allegations of committing multiple murders and using a firearm during a murder that makes him eligible for the death penalty, should Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer choose to pursue that.
Otherwise, if convicted as he will be charged, Patt could face a penalty of life in prison without parole.
"Malike Patt is a stone-cold killer,” Spitzer said at a news conference Monday at his Santa Ana office. “There’s no other way to describe him. He executed people. He had complete disregard for human life. I’ve got chills up my own spine.”
Patt will also be charged with two counts of attempted murder, three counts of robbery with a firearm and one count of carjacking while armed. There were also sentencing enhancements of murder during a robbery and discharging a firearm causing death.
Payne will be charged with three counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery.
Patt and Payne know each other from living on the same street, Spitzer said.
In addition to the July 11 crimes, law enforcement officials have said that Patt and Payne are believed to be tied to somewhat similar crimes in Los Angeles that occurred two days earlier — including the killing of a homeless man found a short distance from a 7-Eleven that had been robbed.
“We applaud the hard work and dedication of our law enforcement partners throughout Southern California who arrested these dangerous individuals,” Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement Monday.
“While the crimes which occurred in Los Angeles have not yet been presented to us, we fully expect that they will be presented to our office,” he said.
More charges could be filed by Riverside and San Bernardino county prosecutors.
Law enforcement officials have called Patt the “primary suspect” and apparent shooter in the crime spree — the man in a hooded sweatshirt and mask caught on surveillance cameras in photos widely shared by authorities. They have not outlined yet Payne’s role.
Both men were arrested in Los Angeles on Friday after getting followed by law enforcement for an unspecified amount of time. Patt was taken immediately to Santa Ana’s city jail, while Payne was treated for unspecified injuries before taken to Orange County.
The July 11 crime wave began with the robbery of a 7-Eleven in Ontario just past 12:10 a.m., followed by a robbery at an Upland location at about 1:35 a.m., authorities said.
The first shooting that day erupted during a robbery at a Riverside 7-Eleven at about 1:50 a.m., leaving a man in grave condition.
Then crimes began breaking out in Orange County.
Matthew Rule, 24, was shot dead in the parking of a 7-Eleven in Santa Ana about 3:25 a.m., when the convenience store was closed for two hours. Police say they believe Rule had stepped in to tell the robber to leave a man who didn’t have any money alone.
Later, in a Brea 7-Eleven, clerk Matt Hirsch, 40, was shot and killed. And, finally, in adjacent La Habra, a clerk and a customer were wounded by gunfire in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven.
Various police agencies teamed up to catch the suspects. On Friday, Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez said detectives believed the gunman wouldn’t stop until he was caught, having gone from carrying out “serial robberies” to being an alleged “serial killer.”
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