Gunman in Santa Claus Suit Kills Man, Wounds Another

BAKERSFIELD —  A gunman dressed in a Santa Claus suit shot two men Thursday outside a restaurant here, fatally wounding one in what police said was an apparently random killing.

Investigators said the attacker, a tall man wearing tennis shoes and the Santa suit, shot the men in the parking lot of Denny’s restaurant at about 5:15 p.m. after pulling out a 22-caliber rifle from a gift-wrapped package.

The gunman “began shooting at them for apparently no reason,” said Police Lt. Eric Matlock. “There was nothing said; no provocation.”

After shooting one of the men five times in the head and wounding the other man in the arm, the gunman disappeared into the thick fog that enveloped this San Joaquin Valley community Thursday evening, Matlock said. Witnesses said the assailant began to take off the Santa suit as he ran.

Police conducted a house-to-house search, but by late Thursday the gunman remained at large.

One victim died shortly after arrival at Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield. The second was hospitalized in serious condition. Police did not release identities pending notification of relatives.

Matlock said the two victims had traveled to Bakersfield from Northern California to buy some German Shepherd puppies that may have been intended as Christmas gifts. The men had stopped at the Denny’s to telephone the seller of the puppies that they would be late because they had developed car trouble, the lieutenant said.