Witnesses detail pickax-wielding man's violent rampage in Lake Forest neighborhood
LAKE FOREST, Calif. (KABC) -- Witnesses are still trying to make sense of a terrifying rampage in Lake Forest after a man crashed a car into a home and began terrorizing his roommates with a pickax.
More people who saw the frightening incident - much of it captured on surveillance footage - are speaking out just a day after it unfolded in their quiet neighborhood.
According to the Orange County Sheriff's Department, the rampage in the neighborhood first started when the suspect ran a silver Kia vehicle into a home just before noon on Monday in the 22000 block of Robin Street. Video captured the car going down the street moments before it crashed.
The mother of the family living at the home where the suspect crashed told Eyewitness News her toddler and niece were in the garage at the time, but they were uninjured. They came out shaking with fear after the crash.
RELATED: Man attacks roommates with pickaxe after crashing car into Lake Forest home
Soon after, the suspect is seen running back in the direction of the house where he was staying. The homeowner there said the suspect had been a tenant for just 10 days.
The roommate who owns the home, Eric Li, said he encountered the suspect bloodied, presumably from the crash. That's when the suspect grabbed the pickax from their backyard and chased Li with it, turning on a landscaper working in a neighbor's home after Li got away.
Witnesses say the suspect made his way back into his own home. This time, he turned on another roommate who is heard trying to reason his way out of the situation.
Eyewitness News obtained surveillance footage showing the suspect force his way into the home and then violently smash the door to his roommates' room with the pickax. Cries for help are heard coming from the other side of the door.
"It sounded like someone was getting tortured inside the house," one man told Eyewitness News about what he heard as the suspect entered the home. The witness said he and two others debated going inside to see what was happening.
After what sounds like a physical struggle, witnesses say the roommate went out the front door with the pickax and the suspect following behind.
That's when deputies say they used less-than-lethal force to take down the suspect.
The suspect remains hospitalized and is receiving treatment for injuries suffered in the crash, according to the sheriff's department.
