During the defendant’s preliminary hearing on Wednesday, evidence from the defendant’s police interrogation revealed that a 21-year-old man, charged in a crime spree resulting in the deaths of three individuals in a series of convenience store and fast food robberies across the Southland, referred to some of the victims as “white devils.”
The defendant, Malik Donyae Patt, is facing charges of three counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, three counts of robbery, and a count of armed carjacking. The charges against Patt include special circumstances of multiple murders and murder in the commission of a robbery. The case also involves various sentencing enhancements related to the personal use or discharge of a handgun.
Gus Moroyoqui, currently an investigator for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office but previously a detective for Santa Ana police, interviewed Patt about the shootings and robberies that occurred on July 11. Moroyoqui testified that he reviewed store surveillance video after being dispatched to the homicide of 24-year-old Matthew Rule at 302 E. 17th St.
Initially, Patt denied having any knowledge of the shootings during the questioning while Moroyoqui showed him crime scene photos.
“I don’t know anything about any robbery,” Patt claimed. “I don’t know anything about what happened at the doughnut shop.”
At one point, Patt dismissively tossed one of the photos onto the floor. However, when the detective informed him that it was shown to a family member of the suspect, Patt became shaken.
Patt muttered, “Death penalty?” before asserting that his co-defendant, Jason Lamont Payne, had no involvement in the crimes.
“Keep my uncle out of this. He had nothing to do with this,” Patt stated, referring to Payne, who was a friend and not related to him. Payne pleaded guilty to four felony counts of robbery, with sentencing enhancements for using a gun, and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Patt requested to be housed alone in a jail cell, expressing his preference by saying, “I’d rather be alone.”
Patt spared the clerk at a Yum Yum Donuts shop in Santa Ana, located at 2441 N. Tustin St., because the clerk appeared to be of Indian descent. Patt stated that he put his arm around the clerk while stealing $200 from the cash drawer and an additional $200 from a safe, to assure the clerk that he was not in danger.
“That’s my people,” Patt remarked about the clerk’s ethnicity.
When questioned about why he shot Rule, Patt noted that Rule was white.
Regarding the victim at a 7-Eleven store in Brea, Patt mentioned that he shot the victim due to an exchange of words. He said, “He said something. I don’t know.”
Regarding the two victims shot at a 7-Eleven in La Habra on that night, Patt claimed not to remember. However, he recollected shooting through the passenger side window of a vehicle.
When asked about a victim of a shooting that took place earlier that night at a 7-Eleven store in Riverside, Patt referred to the victim as “that devil.”
Pressed on whether race motivated him, Patt stated, “The white man is the devil.”
At one point during the questioning, Patt denied being the person seen in the surveillance video photos.
“That’s not me,” he declared. He added, “Malik Patt wouldn’t have thought of doing this.”
When Moroyoqui asked Patt for the suspect’s name, pointing to the photo, Patt remained silent.
The crime spree allegedly began on July 9, 2022, with the killing of a homeless man near Woodley Avenue in North Hills. The location was approximately 200 yards away from a 7-Eleven store that was later robbed on the same day.
During the questioning, Patt confirmed that he was aware of the news coverage of the shootings and admitted to killing “that homeless man up in North Hollywood,” as shown in the court video.
Authorities stated that the 7-Eleven crime spree took place on July 11, starting in Ontario. According to the police, the first robbery occurred just after midnight at the 7-Eleven located at 636 N. Vine Ave. Although the suspect wielded a handgun, no shots were fired, and no injuries were reported.
At 1:35 a.m., the 7-Eleven store at 2410 W. Arrow Route in Upland was robbed, according to police reports.
At 1:50 a.m., a gunman robbed the 7-Eleven store at 5102 La Sierra Ave. in Riverside. During the robbery, the suspect shot a customer who was subsequently hospitalized.
Approximately 20 minutes after 3 a.m. on July 11, the Yum Yum Donuts shop at 2441 N. Tustin St. in Santa Ana was robbed, followed by the fatal shooting of Matthew Rule outside the 7-Eleven store at 302 E. 17th St. in Santa Ana.
Santa Ana police discovered Rule in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to the upper body. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Chief David Valentin of the Santa Ana Police Department stated last year that Rule was not the intended target of the shooter. The gunman had been targeting someone else, but Rule intervened, leading to his redirection and subsequent shooting.
Brea police responded to the 7-Eleven store at 109 W. Lambert Road at 4:17 a.m. and found a male store clerk fatally shot during a robbery. The clerk, identified as 40-year-old Matthew Hirsch, died at the scene.
About 30 minutes later, the 7-Eleven store at 381 E. Whittier Blvd. in La Habra was robbed, resulting in two individuals being shot. Both victims were hospitalized but survived. The victims included a clerk and a customer, according to Sergeant Eric Roy of the La Habra Police Department.
Based on surveillance images, police were able to link the same suspect to all of the robberies.
The robberies that occurred in Ontario and Upland would be prosecuted in San Bernardino County.
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