Banning shooting suspect, victims identified

Authorities have released the names of the two men killed Saturday in what has been described as a random shooting spree in Banning.

Banning residents Benjamin Johnson, 34, and Paul Lesh, 66, were pronounced dead an hour apart from each other Saturday, according to the Riverside County Coroner's office.

The suspected shooter was identified Sunday as Banning resident James Paul Diaz, 35, according to Banning police. He is being held at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning on suspicion of two counts of first-degree murder, one count each of assault with a deadly weapon, shooting at a person from a vehicle, shooting at an inhabited vehicle and attempted murder.

The motive for the attacks remains murky. But authorities said witnesses told them that during the spree the man repeatedly asked strangers if they knew the location of his children.

The incidents began with random shootings, which were all within a mile of each other, just before 11:36 a.m. in the 700 block of John Street in Banning.

Lesh and another man had been shot in their car by a man in a white SUV, according to Banning police Chief Alex Diaz. The second man was rushed to the hospital, but was later released, police said Sunday afternoon.

Seven minutes later, another car-to-car shooting was reported at the corner of Nicolet Street and San Gorgonio Avenue. A woman told police a man in his 30s, driving in a white SUV shot at her, but she was not hit. Instead, she suffered cuts to her face and arms from broken glass, the chief said. The victim said she was shot at by a man in his 30s in a white SUV and provided the first visual description of the suspect to police.

While juggling the first two crime scenes, Banning police were called to the ARCO AM/PM station on Ramsey Street at about noon, where a man had used a gun to repeatedly bludgeon another man.

The victim, who was rushed to the hospital, said he was attacked by the driver of a white SUV. Video surveillance footage from the gas station confirmed that the person who attacked the man at the gas station fit the description of the shooter from the earlier incidents.

During the chaos of the attacks, parent-volunteers at the nearby Nicolet Middle School’s youth program, which was in session Saturday, were asked to conduct an informal lockdown and keep the 45 students inside, Chief Diaz said.

At 12:13 p.m., police were called to the 200 block of East Lincoln Street, where a car had crashed into a wall. The driver of the vehicle - Johnson - was dead of a gunshot wound.

Police believe the shooter then drove to Beaumont, where witnesses said he banged on doors in the 700 block of America Avenue and asked people if there were children in the house. He reportedly told people he was looking for his children, Beaumont police Chief Sean Thuilliez said.

At 12:22 p.m., Beaumont police were called to the 1300 block of Eighth Street, where a man matching the shooter’s description was seen trying to get into a woman’s car. He shouted at children in her back seat and asked if his own children were also in the car, Thuilliez said.

After contacting Banning police, Beaumont police officers stopped the suspect nearby. He was driving a white Chevy Tahoe. Police conducted a traffic stop and detained the man without incident.

Officers saw a gun in the car and were working to get a search warrant in order to seize it, Thuilliez said.

The suspect, whose name was not released, does have a family in another state, Diaz said. When officers in that state — police would not say which state — went to their home, they were found unharmed.

None of the victims of the attack were known to or related to the suspect.

“At this point, it seems like it’s random,” Chief Diaz said. “How do you quantify the human mind? We won’t know until we interview him.”

Anna Rumer is a public safety reporter for The Desert Sun. She can be reached at (760) 285-5490, anna.rumer@desertsun.com or on Twitter @AnnaRumer.