SAN DIEGO (CBS 8/ CNS) - A man wanted in connection with homicides in Riverside and San Bernardino counties was arrested at a taco shop in Mission Hills after briefly taking an employee there hostage early Thursday, police said.
According to police, an employee at the eatery in the 700 block of West Washington Street near Eagle Street called police shortly after midnight to report a man acting strangely. He later noticed the suspect had a handgun.
"He asked me for a bathroom. I said it was in the back. He would not leave and that is why I called the police. When I went outside, he put a gun on my chest and brought me to the lobby," said the restaurant employee who was taken hostage.
A customer was able to escape as the suspect grabbed the employee by the neck and brought him to the back of the business, according to police. However, the suspect complied with arriving officers' demands and was arrested shortly afterward. His name was not immediately available.
Officers subsequently learned the suspect was being sought in connection with an abandoned car, which had been stolen in Riverside, that was found in the Mid-City area. It was somehow linked to a homicide investigation in Riverside County.
Homicide investigators from Riverside had been summoned.
The man was suspected of shooting a woman to death at a gas station in Colton in San Bernardino County Wednesday evening, then a man on Lake Valley Drive in Moreno Valley in Riverside County. Two women were also wounded in the Moreno Valley shooting.