2 dead, 3 injured during violent rampage in Southern California

(KTLA) — A 42-year-old man is in custody in connection with a violent crime spree that left two people dead and three injured Thursday in Ventura County, California, officials confirmed to NewsNation affiliate KTLA.

The first incident, according to Capt. Dean Worthy with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, unfolded just after 1 p.m. near the intersection of Rice Road and East Channel Islands Boulevard, an unincorporated area in the western part of the county.

Authorities say the suspect, now identified as 42-year-old Camarillo resident Alvin Otis Johnson, stabbed a 33-year-old man, an incident witnessed by a 43-year-old woman, while the three were in a moving vehicle.

The victim and witness exited the vehicle when it came to a stop, and the suspect fled the area.

The stabbing victim was rushed to the hospital where he later died.

During a manhunt for Johnson, authorities received a 911 call for help in the 3400 block of Huerta Court in Camarillo, approximately 15 miles from where the deadly stabbing occurred.

“Simultaneously, while deputies were responding to this residence, a male showed up at the Camarillo Police Station and said that there was an assault with a deadly weapon that had occurred in the 3400 block of Huerta Court,” Worthy explained.

The man reporting the crime to Camarillo police, a 47-year-old, was suffering minor injuries after being pistol-whipped by a suspect that investigators later determined was Johnson, the same man involved in the fatal stabbing.

At the scene on Huerta Court, deputies located Johnson, who was armed with a handgun, and took him into custody.

Inside the residence, deputies located a 75-year-old woman suffering severe injuries — though it’s unclear if they were bullet wounds or the result of another weapon — who was rushed to the hospital. She later died.

The woman’s 78-year-old husband and a 51-year-old man, the latter of whom was suffering minor injuries from a likely pistol-whipping, were also located inside the residence.

According to Worthy, Johnson and the five victims are known to each other and likely travel in the same social circles.

While the investigation is ongoing and investigators have yet to determine an exact motive, authorities said they believe drugs may have been a factor.

Johnson is expected to be booked on two counts of murder, authorities said.

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