California man kills five and self

A gunman in Bakersfield, California, killed 5 victims and himself on Wednesday night. Police found that an ugly divorce could have played a factor in the rampage.

The shooter was identified as Javier Casarez, 54, who brought his ex-wife Petra Maribel Bolaños De Casarez, 45, to confront Manuel Contreras, 50, who he thought his wife was cheating on him with. The double homicide took place at T&T Trucking on Manwell Boulevard..

Another man at the scene, Antonio Valadez, 50, exchanged shots with Casarez and fled the property as Casarez followed him, confronted him at Bear Mountain Sports Shop, and shot him as well.

Following that, the gunman traveled to a house on Breckenridge Road and confronted Eliseo Cazares, 57, who he shot and killed along with his daughter, Laura Garcia, 31, who was thought to be attempting to intervene on behalf of her father.

Casarez then carjacked a woman and her child, who were unharmed. He traveled on Edison Highway when a deputy saw him.

He pulled off of the highway and drove to the parking lot of a business that authorities said a friend of his owned, and when the deputy approached him, Casarez got out of the car and shot himself in the chest.

Body camera footage reveals the deputy yelling “Put the gun down!” four times while he drew a firearm but did not shoot, as it shows Casarez pulling the trigger on himself.

As authorities reflected on this unfortunate tragedy, they found that many key witnesses were deceased, and that this occurrence likely wasn’t out of the ordinary because Casarez had ongoing issues relatively recently with his ex-wife.

Casarez and his ex-wife finalized their divorce months prior to this event; however the two were in a conflict over child support and property as of late.

“Sometimes these domestic violence cases morph into something really bad and we want to find out how the other players fit into that domestic violence issue. If you look at the time frame of when this occurred, from scene to scene to scene, it appears to me to be very calculated,”  reported Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood.

The authorities found that the victims could have had a common ground which tied them all into the shooting spree, which unfortunately played out quickly but powerfully.

The motive is not certain, but the argument was made that more of these cases are being seen and reported on throughout the nation.

Youngblood also noted that, “This is the new normal” as he reflected on the event and what could’ve possibly led Casarez to carrying it out.