Sacramento rampage -- 5 shot dead / Slayer kills himself during gunbattle with police

A woman whom Sacramento police identified as a relative of a shooting victim is consoled by a friend near Miller Park in Sacramento, Calif. Sunday Sept. 9, 2001. Police believe disgruntled former security guard Joseph Ferguson, 20, of Sacramento, shot and killed three unarmed ex-coworkers and a fourth man Saturday night, then handcuffed another guard and fled in her car. (AP Photo/Bob Galbraith) less A woman whom Sacramento police identified as a relative of a shooting victim is consoled by a friend near Miller Park in Sacramento, Calif. Sunday Sept. 9, 2001. Police believe disgruntled former security guard ... more Photo: BOB GALBRAITH Photo: BOB GALBRAITH Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Sacramento rampage -- 5 shot dead / Slayer kills himself during gunbattle with police 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

2001-09-10 04:00:00 PDT Sacramento -- A suspended security guard who killed five people and wounded two others during a 24-hour rampage through the city took his own life during a spectacular shootout early today, police said.

Joseph Ferguson turned his gun on himself after shooting a California Highway Patrol officer and a passing motorist and firing on a police helicopter, officials said.

Officers found the 20-year-old Sacramento man dead inside a blue Nissan stolen from a man he shot yesterday afternoon, police said.

"He was pretty much bent on killing more people and he was intent on killing himself," said Arturo Venegas, Sacramento's chief of police.

Ferguson's death capped a bloody weekend in which he vowed to top the carnage wrought by Ukranian immigrant Nikolay Soltys, who is charged with seven killings in Sacramento last month.

Armed with high-powered weapons and a bag of pipe bombs, the 20-year-old Ferguson shot to death his former girlfriend and three others Saturday.

The bodies of two uniformed female Burns guards were found in a guard shack at a Sacramento city equipment lot, police said. Less than 30 minutes later, police found two more bodies -- of another Burns guard and a Sacramento employee, both men -- at a city marina.

All had been shot repeatedly. Another victim, also a Burns security guard, was found handcuffed at the Sacramento Zoo. She was not injured.

Yesterday, Ferguson held an unidentified Burns supervisor and his wife hostage in their Lincoln Village home near Rancho Cordova for six hours. Ferguson also videotaped a message while there, Venegas said, but further details were unavailable last night.

Ferguson killed the supervisor and took his wife as he fled in the couple's blue Nissan Altima at 9 p.m., investigators said. She later escaped and called 911.

At about 11 p.m., police arrived at an industrial area off International Drive and found a CHP officer lying in the street with a gunshot to the arm.

The officer's condition was unavailable last night.

Venegas said the injured officer was among four CHP troopers who spotted the stolen Nissan and tried to stop it. Ferguson -- who was wearing a bulletproof vest -- opened fire on them as he sped away.

He then shot a passing motorist, fired at a Sacramento Police Department helicopter and exchanged gunfire with several officers before crashing into a pole at Folsom Boulevard and Zinfandel Drive.

Police found him in the wreckage moments later with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Venegas said. The motorist suffered a gunshot to the stomach and remained hospitalized in serious condition last night.

Police said Ferguson was angry about being suspended from his job after his ex-girlfriend reported him for vandalizing her car. The ex-girlfriend, a 20- year-old Romanian immigrant, was one of the Burns guards whom Ferguson shot and killed at the city maintenance yard, police said.

The weekend spree was the second bloody rampage in Sacramento in just three weeks. After a 10-day manhunt last month, police captured Soltys, who has been charged with killing seven people, including his pregnant wife, her fetus, and the couple's 3-year-old son.

Police say Ferguson was suspended from his job at Burns International Security last week. In cell phone calls to Burns managers some time late Saturday or early yesterday, Ferguson reportedly threatened to go to a downtown nightclub and movie theater to continue the rampage, vowing to "outdo Soltys, something along those lines," Sacramento police spokesman Sgt. Daniel Hahn told the Sacramento Bee.

Neighbors described Ferguson as militant-looking and secretive, rarely talking to others in the working-class south Sacramento neighborhood. Venegas said Ferguson had a wide range of white supremacist material in his home.

"Here you have a 20-year-old kid who has picked up a lot of white supremacist literature, survivalist materials, a lot of weapons, and that's kind of his mentality," Venegas said.

Police said they did not think the killings were racially motivated, however.

Ferguson lived with his father. His mother is serving time in Chowchilla state prison for undisclosed offenses, police said.

Every window in the Fergusons' brown, wooden house is covered with black steel bars, and the property is surrounded by barbed wire atop a wooden fence. There is a sign warning of vicious guard dogs, and neighbors said a security camera pointed out toward the street through a front window.

'VERY MILITANT'

"They were very militant," said one woman who refused to give her name out of fear. "He had an arsenal. They walked around with shaved heads and always wore black."

Another neighbor, Lonnie Basped, said the father seemed to be a controlling influence over his sons. Basped said his only communication with the elder Ferguson was when Basped's children threw something over his fence about a year ago, and they had a "man-to-man" talk about it.

They hadn't spoke since.

"I've always wondered why they were so secretive," said Basped, 38, an African American who lives next door with his wife and five children. "They didn't communicate with anyone around here. It looked like a family that wanted to be left alone. If they were together, it was the father doing all the talking. The sons wouldn't talk."

This, according to police, is how Sacramento's latest violent rampage began:

At 11:18 p.m. Saturday, police responded to a report of shots fired at a city equipment yard. Two bodies were found in the guard shack of the city yard.

The victims were Ferguson's ex-girlfriend and a 32-year-old African American woman, both uniformed Burns security guards.

About 20 minutes later, police found two men dead at the Miller Park Marina along the Sacramento River.

Police said Ferguson had killed a 48-year-old Asian man who was a uniformed Burns guard and a 19-year-old white man who worked at the Marina helping fill gas tanks.

CRASHES GATES OF ZOO

Police believe Ferguson took a Burns security vehicle from the equipment yard and used it to crash through the gates of the Sacramento Zoo at some point during the night. There, he handcuffed a female Burns security officer to a tree.

Ferguson had handguns and long rifles with him, Venegas said, and Ferguson's father told police "numerous weapons" were missing from the home. Police also said he was carrying pipe bombs.

Police identified Ferguson as a 6-foot-1-inch white male, about 150 pounds, with shaved brown hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a black T-shirt and black fatigues and is believed to be armed with two 9mm handguns, two rifles and a shotgun.

Don Walker, the chief executive officer of Burns International Security, said the company's entire Sacramento area contingent -- about 150 officers -- had been placed off duty and sent home for their own safety.

Venegas said the security guards would be off the job "as long as it takes."