Cops: He Walked Out of a 7-Eleven, Covered in Blood

The suspect in a Southern California stabbing rampage that left four people dead and two injured pleaded not guilty Friday to murder, attempted murder, and other counts. Zachary Castaneda was arraigned in his jail cell instead of court after refusing to leave his jail cell, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a tweet. Castaneda was arrested Wednesday by police responding to two hours of slashing and stabbing attacks in Garden Grove and Santa Ana, per the AP. Authorities said Castaneda, 33, was covered in blood when he was taken into custody after walking out of a 7-Eleven store and dropping a knife and a gun that he'd cut from the belt of a security guard he'd just killed. The 11 felonies filed against Castaneda also included assault with a deadly weapon to cause great bodily injury, aggravated mayhem, robbery, and burglary.

Authorities on Friday said 63-year-old Gerardo Fresnares Beltran was fatally stabbed in his Garden Grove apartment. His roommate Helmuth Hauprich, 62, was also killed in the attack. Castaneda was their neighbor. Robert Parker, 58, of Orange, and Pascual Rioja Lorenzo, 39, of Garden Grove were stabbed separately in Santa Ana. Cops believe Castaneda killed the two men at the apartment complex where he lived about an hour after burglarizing their unit, then robbed businesses, including a Garden Grove insurance agency where a 54-year-old woman was stabbed. She was hospitalized in critical but stable condition, police said. Castaneda is accused of robbing a check-cashing business next door to the insurance agency and leaving the woman there unharmed. Later, a man pumping gas at a Chevron station was attacked without warning and slashed so badly that his nose was nearly severed, police said. He was in stable condition. (More murder suspect stories.)