The Orange County, California district attorney has slammed the “soft on crime” policies of far-left Governor Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers after three gunmen were indicted for the murder of a 68-year-old woman at an upscale Newport Beach shopping mall last week.
Public Prosecutor’s Office Said New Zealand tourist Patricia McKay and her husband were waiting for their car after shopping at Fashion Island mall on Tuesday when a white Toyota Camry pulled up next to them and two masked men jumped out and attacked McKay’s 69-year-old husband, putting a gun to his head and demanding his watch, before pushing him to the ground as passersby fled.
“Our shopping centers and malls have become hunting grounds for criminals who stalk and rob innocent shoppers because the Governor and Legislature refuse to hold them accountable for their actions.”
According to the District Attorney’s Office, when the suspects, later identified as Malachi Darnell and Jayden Cunningham, both 18, were unable to take MacKay’s property, Cunningham allegedly threw MacKay to the ground, stole his shopping bags and dragged him to the front of a getaway car driven by Leroy Ernest Joseph McCrary, 26.
While McKay was lying in front of the Camry, McKay’s husband jumped in front of the car to try to stop his wife from being run over, but McCrary accelerated the car with Darnell still inside, pushing McKay’s husband out of the way, running over McKay and dragging her body 65 feet, the prosecutor’s office said.
Cunningham ran to catch up to the getaway vehicle while McCrary was dragging McKay under the car, the DA’s office said, and a good Samaritan tried to stop Cunningham from getting back in his car. Darnell is accused of firing shots at the good Samaritan from the getaway vehicle and McCrary is accused of slowing down to allow Cunningham to jump in the getaway vehicle, then fleeing in the vehicle, according to the DA’s office.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, Cunningham was arrested in Cypress after fleeing the vehicle, while McClary and Darnell were arrested in South Gate after a police pursuit. All three suspects are being held without bail.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer did not hold back in his criticism of Governor Newsom and state lawmakers.
“Our shopping centers and malls have become hunting grounds for criminals who stalk and rob innocent shoppers because the Governor and Legislature refuse to hold them accountable for their actions,” he said in a statement Friday. statement“Actions have consequences. It should not take the death of an elderly woman enjoying a shopping trip with her husband for Sacramento’s elected leaders to realize this is the result of soft-on-crime policies that encourage crime and sacrifice public safety. This is Orange County and we will not accept this as the new normal. Criminals will be held accountable and violence will never be tolerated.”
The district attorney’s office said the three suspects face the death penalty if convicted of special circumstance murder in the commission of aggravated robbery resulting in the death of a person 65 or older.
McCrary also faces charges of attempted second-degree robbery and fleeing by reckless driving, according to the district attorney’s office. McCrary has previous felony convictions in Los Angeles County for burglary in 2018, criminal intimidation in 2020 and robbery in 2023.
Darnell also faces charges of attempted second-degree robbery, attempted murder, aggravated felony use of a firearm and personal discharge of a firearm, while Cunningham faces one felony count of attempted second-degree robbery, according to the prosecutor’s office.
You can watch a video report of the incident here here.
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