California man cooperative after firing shots at Newport Beach mall, police say

By: Crimesider Staff
Topics: Daily Blotter

Marcos Gurrola was charged with shooting at an inhabited dwelling after he allegedly fired shots outside a mall in Newport Beach, Calif., on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012.

/ AP Photo/Orange County Orange County Sheriff's Department Department

(CBS/AP) NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. - Marcos Gurrola, the man who allegedly opened fire in the parking lot of a crowded Southern California shopping mall, sending shoppers sprinting for safety, was cooperative when officers took him into custody, authorities said Sunday.

According to CBS Los Angeles, police say Gurrola, 42, fired "at least 60 rounds" from a semiautomatic handgun Saturday afternoon outside a Macy's department store in Newport Beach.

Witnesses said he fired into the air and at the ground, pausing to reload several times.

Then Gurrola put the gun down and offered no resistance when officers on bicycles arrested him, said Lt. John Lewis.

"He just gave up," Lewis said.

As investigators worked to determine a motive, the police chief of this upscale Orange County city said he believed Gurrola fired shots as a "way of venting his life problems."

Beach Police Chief David McGill told Los Angeles Times that the gunman was "unhappy about a lot in life and decided this was his best way of released his tension."

McGill also expressed relief that no one was hit by the gunfire.

"Thank God his pointed up," he said. "Luck was on our side."

Gurrola, of Graden Grove, was charged with shooting at an inhabited dwelling. He was being held Sunday on $250,000 bail. Police recovered a handgun and ammunition.

Gurrola is a licensed security guard whose firearm permit expired in 2001, according to the Orange County Register, which cited state records.

He doesn't appear to have a criminal record, the newspaper reported.

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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