Southern California police are seeking a suspect believed to be behind the shooting deaths of two people and robberies of six 7-Eleven stores on the convenience chain’s free Slurpee day.
The New York Time notes the deaths and robberies all occurred on Monday, July 11, 2022, which was 7-Eleven’s 95th anniversary. The chain was celebrating the anniversary by offering free Slurpee drinks to customers.
CBS News reports robberies occurred at 7-Eleven stores in the Los Angeles-area “cities of Ontario, Upland, Riverside, Santa Ana, Brea and La Habra.”
ABC 7 / Associated Press provides a timeline: showing the Ontario robbery occurred at 12 a.m., the Upland robbery at 12:37 a.m., the Riverside robbery at 1:50 a.m., the Santa Ana robbery at 3:23 a.m., the Brea robbery at 4:18 a.m., and the La Habra robbery at 4:55 a.m.
A customer was shot during the Riverside robbery and “remains in grave condition.”
Twenty-four-year-old Matthew Rule was shot and killed during the Santa Ana store robbery and a 7-Eleven clerk, 40-year-old Matthew Hirsch, was shot in killed during the robbery of the Brea store.
Police are searching for a lone gunman they believe to be behind all six robberies, as well as the two fatalities.
7-Eleven released a statement on the robberies and deaths which encouraged stores in the Los Angeles area to avoid overnight hours by closing Tuesday evening: “Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones. We are gathering information on this terrible tragedy and working with local law enforcement. Right now, our focus is on Franchisee, associate and customer safety. With that in mind, we encouraged stores in the Los Angeles area to close overnight.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.