A southern California man will be spending the holidays behind bars, after opening fire in a shopping mall parking lot.
Marcos Gurrola, 42, had shoppers sprinting for safety when he fired around 50 shots near the Macy’s department store at the open-air Fashion Island mall in Newport Beach.
According to police, he paused to reload several times.
Then Gurrola put the gun down and offered no resistance when bicycle officers arrested him around 4:30 p.m., said Lt. John Lewis.
"He just gave up," Lewis said.
At the moment, investigators cannot find a motive.
Gurrola, of Garden Grove, was charged with shooting at an inhabited dwelling. He was being held Sunday on $250,000 bail. Police recovered a handgun and ammunition.
Officials said one person suffered a minor injury while running away, and was treated at the scene.
The gunfire caused panic, coming a day after a gunman killed 26 children and adults at a Connecticut elementary school, and days after a deadly mall shooting in Oregon.
The mall is located near Pacific Coast Highway in the heart of Newport Beach. At the time of the shooting, the mall was crowded with holiday shoppers and the parking lot was full. Many people ran into stores, a movie theater and other businesses.
Gurrola is a licensed security guard whose firearm permit expired in 2001, according to the Orange County Register, which cited state records.
On Tuesday, a gunman at an Oregon shopping mall killed two people and wounded a third amid a holiday crowd estimated at 10,000 people. Clackamas County authorities are still trying to determine why the gunman opened fire before killing himself.
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