NEWPORT BEACH (CBSLA.com) — Investigators said Monday a Garden Grove man who is accused of firing his gun into the air at Fashion Island in Newport Beach may be unemployed and destitute.
Police said 42-year-old Marcus Gurrola fired “at least 60 rounds” from a semiautomatic handgun outside the Macy’s department store on Saturday night.
Customers were crowded into the mall for Christmas shopping when they heard the shots fired and many of them scrambled into dressing rooms, bathrooms and behind locked doors at various storefronts to take cover.
Gurrola – whom police said lives in his car – was a registered security guard, according to state records. Investigators, however, believe he may be currently unemployed.
Gurrola was booked for assault with a deadly weapon and is being held on $250,000 bail.
One shopper at Fashion Island said current economic conditions in the Southland and nationwide could motivate similar shootings in the future.
“It scares the hell out of me because of the way the economy is, that I worry there’s gonna be more of exactly the same thing,” he said.
