Man Held After Rampage Kills 3

San Bernardino police on Tuesday shot and arrested a 35-year-old man accused of killing a sales manager and a salesman at a Colton used car lot and then killing a teenage boy.

Half an hour after the Monday shooting rampage, Louis Mitchell Jr. of Rialto drove to an apartment complex in San Bernardino, shot the teen to death and wounded the teen’s older brother, detectives said.

Mitchell was arrested Tuesday afternoon after police shot him in the leg. “We have taken a very violent individual off the street,” San Bernardino Police Chief Garrett Zimmon said.

The motive was unclear, but police, who described Mitchell as a gang member with a history of drug dealing, said he knew the San Bernardino man he wounded.

For almost 24 hours, Colton and San Bernardino police pursued leads to Mitchell’s whereabouts. He was arrested shortly after 3 p.m. when officers responded to reports of shots being fired on a residential street, Zimmon said.

The officers found Mitchell standing next to a vehicle in the 300 block of West 19th Street, “looking rather oddly,” Zimmon said.

He said Mitchell began threatening to shoot one officer, and one of them fired a shot that struck him. The wound was not life-threatening, Zimmon said.

Officers recovered a pistol, but Mitchell was not carrying it when he threatened them, police said.

Police said that on Monday morning, Mitchell went to the California Auto Specialist lot in the 1500 block of West Valley Boulevard, a block north of Interstate 10 in Colton, with his live-in girlfriend.

Police said the couple left without closing a deal, but a short time later, the girlfriend, who was not identified, returned and bought a Dodge Durango.

“He was disgruntled over his live-in girlfriend purchasing the car,” said Colton Police Chief Ken Rulon.

About 2:40 p.m. Monday, Mitchell, armed with a handgun, returned to the lot and asked for the sales manager, said Lt. Bob Miller, a spokesman for the Colton Police Department.

When the manager, Patrick Mawikere, appeared, Mitchell opened fire, police said.

Mawikere, 20, died at the scene. Salesman Mario Lopez, 59, died hours later, following emergency surgery. Another salesman, Jerry Payan, reportedly jumped through a window, shattering the glass, to escape the gunfire. Payan was reported in serious condition with a bullet wound. A third salesman, Juan Bizzotto, suffered grazing gunshot wounds, police said.

Detectives said that after the attack, Mitchell drove to the 1400 block of North Sierra Way in San Bernardino, where he shot Susano Torres, 16, to death and wounded Susano’s 19-year-old brother, Armando.

“The brother is not talking too much, but he identified Mitchell,” said San Bernardino Police Sgt. Mike Desrochers. “He knew him.”

Desrochers said detectives did not believe drugs or robbery played a role in the San Bernardino shootings.

Mitchell was released from prison July 16, 2004, after pleading guilty in 2002 to one felony count of possessing/purchasing cocaine for sale.

Mike Hernandez, general manager of the three-location company that includes the lot, said that “nothing even close to this” had ever happened there.

“We might have mild arguments, but that’s it,” he said.

Incidents like Monday’s shooting are extremely isolated, according to Jeff Beddow, a spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Assn. in McLean, Va.

Friends and colleagues struggled to make sense of the violence, which drew dozens of Mawikere’s weeping relatives and friends to the crime scene.

“As a society, we’re losing the value of life,” said Salvador Munguia, a salesman, who was off work Monday.

Mawikere was described as a rising star with a knack for matching customers with the right vehicle and helping them overcome questionable credit.

“He was more concerned with what a purchase would mean to your life rather than being someone who is just concerned with selling a car and pocketing the money,” said friend Chris Carroll, who had bought two cars from Mawikere.

“He’s too young to die,” said fellow 2002 Upland High School grad Robert Sinaga. “He was a good guy.”

At the Rialto home of Mario Lopez, the other employee killed, two women identifying themselves as relatives came to visit the victim’s wife, Cecelia.

“Mario was the father of four children; he was a good man, a productive salesman,” said one of the women, who declined to give her name, saying she feared for her safety.

Co-workers described Lopez as one of the lot’s top salesmen.

His neighbor, Nita Brannis, said the slayings illustrated the frighteningly low threshold it takes to prompt someone to kill.

“Some people have not learned how to cope with the negative things in their life, and the result is so devastating sometimes to people who are innocent,” Brannis said.

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Times staff writer Eric Malnic contributed to this report.