Suspect Arrested in Fatal Shootings, Restaurant Hostage Standoff

The suspect allegedly held a San Diego County restaurant employee at gunpoint after the fatal shootings in Riverside and San Bernardino counties

A man was arrested early Thursday in an armed standoff at a San Diego taco shop that followed two fatal shootings, a series of crimes that began Wednesday and spanned three Southern California counties, authorities said.

Investigators said a man was shot and killed in Moreno Valley and a woman was fatally shot at a gas station in Colton.

Officers arrived around 5:30 p.m. at an Arco AMPM gas station in the 1200 block of Washington Street and found the woman suffering from gunshot wounds, according to the Colton Police Department. The victim was transported to a hospital where she died, police said.

Police confirmed the victim and shooter, identified as 38-year-old Jason Barton, of Moreno Valley, are related. Details regarding the relationship were not immediately available.

Around 5:53 p.m., sheriff's deputies responded to reports of an assault in the 23600 block of Lake Valley Drive in Moreno Valley and found a man dead of apparent gunshot wounds, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

Neighbors identified the man as the gunman's father, but police did not confirm that information.

"I thought you only hear that in the movies," said witness Crystal Brown. "I've never seen that right in front of my house."

Two women were also injured in the Moreno Valley shooting. Details regarding the conditions of the women were not immediately available.

Authorities announced later Thursday morning that they arrested a suspect in San Diego after a hostage standoff at a restaurant. The taco shop employee was working by himself just after midnight Thursday at the Eat Mexican Food restaurant in the 700 block of West Washington Street when a man entered and refused to leave after entering the kitchen area looking for a bathroom, San Diego police said.

The employee said the man held a gun to his chest and ordered him to sit down, but not before the victim called 911 to alert police. Video captured the armed man and employee exiting the building as officers waited with guns drawn.

The man surrendered to law enforcement agents.

San Diego police had already been looking for the subject after they found an abandoned stolen car from Riverside linked to the two homicide case.

Investigators were looking into a possible motive for the shootings.

NBC4 attempted to contact the suspect's family for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.

Refresh this developing story for updates.

Jamie Bankson and Joe Studley contributed to this report.

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