A 33-year-old man has been arrested outside a California 7-Eleven after stabbing and robbing his way across two cities in a bloody rampage that killed four people and seriously injured two others.

The man, who hasn't been identified, was taken into custody by multiple officers on Wednesday evening as he walked out of the convenience store in Santa Ana.

He dropped a knife and gun he had taken from a security guard he had allegedly just killed as he was surrounded by police.

Police say the man robbed more than half a dozen businesses and killed two men at his own apartment complex during the two-hour wave of violence earlier in the day.

He is also accused of killing the security guard and a male worker at a Subway restaurant. Police say the man seriously injured a female bank employee during his crime spree and stabbed a man - nearly severing his nose off - while he was pumping gas.

The Hispanic man, 33, who hasn't been identified, was taken into custody by multiple officers on Wednesday evening as he walked out of the 7-Eleven convenience store in Santa Ana, California

He dropped a knife and gun he had taken from a security guard he had allegedly just killed as he was surrounded by police

The attacker and all the victims were Hispanic.

Investigators said the violence appeared to be random and the only known motives seem to be 'robbery, hate, homicide'.

'We know this guy was full of anger and he harmed a lot of people,' Garden Grove police Lt. Carl Whitney said.

Surveillance cameras caught some of the carnage.

'We have video showing him attacking these people and conducting these murders,' Whitney said.

The crime spree started when the man allegedly stabbed two men during some kind of confrontation at the Garden Grove apartment building where he lived.

One man died inside an apartment and another was found wounded on the balcony and later died at a hospital.

He is then accused of robbing a bakery but no one was injured.

The man was arrested outside the 7-Eleven after stabbing and robbing his way across two cities in a bloody rampage that killed four people and seriously injured two others

Police ordered the man to drop his weapons when he emerged from the 7-Eleven and he was taken into custody

Undercover detectives tracked the suspect's silver Mercedes to the parking lot of the 7-Eleven store in Santa Ana and within a minute of their arrival the man came out of the store

The attacker drove up to a Chevron station where he stabbed a man pumping gas. The man was stabbed in the back and 'his nose was nearly severed off his face'

The owner, who asked not to be identified, told KCAL-TV that she was charging her cellphone at about 4pm when the man drove up and apparently mistook her for a customer.

'He went directly to the register and tried to open the register... he showed me a gun,' she said.

He took all the money and fled.

'I think I was very lucky because he thought I was a customer, not the owner,' she said.

The man also robbed an insurance business where a 54-year-old female employee was stabbed several times and was expected to survive, authorities said.

Police said he was armed with 'some sort of machete knives' when he confronted the woman.

Whitney described the woman as 'very brave' and said she 'found as best she could'.

An alarm company saw the robbery on a live television feed and called police.

Police said the man killed a security guard at this 7-11 just moments before he was arrested. He was carrying a large knife and a gun that he had cut from the belt of a security guard after stabbing him

Police say he is also behind the death of a male employee of a nearby Subway restaurant who was fatally stabbed during a robbery

Shortly after 6pm, the attacker drove up to a Chevron station where he stabbed a man pumping gas. Police said this attack appeared to be 'for no reason' and there was no robbery reported

'They could see that the female victim was on the ground with blood and multiple injuries,' Whitney said.

The man fled with cash before also robbing a check-cashing business next door.

Shortly after 6pm, the attacker drove up to a Chevron station where he stabbed a man pumping gas. Police said this attack appeared to be 'for no reason' and there was no robbery reported.

The man was stabbed in the back and 'his nose was nearly severed off his face'.

Undercover detectives tracked the suspect's silver Mercedes to the parking lot of the 7-Eleven store in Santa Ana and within a minute of their arrival the man came out of the store.

He was carrying a large knife and a gun that he had cut from the belt of a security guard after stabbing him.

The man had followed the guard into the store and stabbed him several times during a confrontation.

Police ordered the man to drop his weapons and he complied and was arrested.

Police then learned that a male employee of a nearby Subway restaurant also had been fatally stabbed during a robbery.

Sealed off: Cops investigated one of the crime scenes where the killer struck