Suspect Arrested in Slaying of Security Guard

Police arrested a man they believe shot two Sears security guards in Orange--one fatally--after a series of tips led them to the suspect’s home in Santa Fe Springs early Sunday.

Gilbert Ortiz, 20, was taken into custody at 12:35 a.m. as he was leaving a house in the 10500 block of Richlee Avenue, a few hours after police had begun searching the area for him, authorities said.

Orange police concentrated their surveillance on the house based on information from South Gate police, who have an extensive rap sheet on Ortiz, authorities said. Police said they also got help from a 35-year-old woman who apparently left the Mall of Orange with Ortiz after the shooting Friday.

The woman, whose identity police have not released, turned herself into Bell police early Saturday and is being treated as a witness, not a suspect, said Orange Police Lt. Art Romo.

Ortiz was arrested without incident and booked at Orange County Jail on a variety of charges, including murder.

Security guard Kyle O’Brien, 22, died after he was shot twice in the chest Friday afternoon. Guard Randall DePue, 20, was hit once in the arm and was listed in stable condition Sunday at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Anaheim, authorities said.

Police identified Ortiz from a Sears surveillance camera video showing a man wearing a striped shirt and carrying a paint sprayer in a box.

On the day of the shootings, Ortiz allegedly entered the Sears store at the mall and attempted to get a refund for the paint sprayer, Romo said. The clerk got suspicious and alerted security because Ortiz did not have a receipt for the $152 paint sprayer.

Police said the two unarmed security officers then escorted the suspect to his car to get identification. At that point, a struggle ensued, and the man is believed to have shot both security guards before fleeing in a silver Buick Skylark, police said.

Officers said they later recovered what they believe is the murder weapon--a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun--from a trash bin in Orange near the spot where the suspected getaway car was ditched.