The gunman, who was fatally shot by police after a standoff on the 91 Freeway in Fullerton, was identified by the Los Angeles Police Department as Carlos Lopez, 49.
On Tuesday, LAPD officials had said they recovered a handgun they believed was used in all the shootings. Police were investigating whether the weapons found in the gunman’s home were legal, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation.
The man’s motivation for spraying bullets at five different locations remains unclear. It does not appear that he knew the victims, sources said.
The LAPD is investigating whether the shootings were hate crimes, since two of the victims were Asian — one of those who died and one who was grazed in the head by a bullet. But no determination has been made.
The gunman began his rampage at Figueroa Street and Exposition Boulevard just before 1 a.m. Tuesday, firing multiple rounds at a man inside a car and grazing the man’s head with a bullet, according to LAPD Chief Michel Moore.