Home Scandal and Gossip Bakersfield shooting rampage love triangle: Gunman accused wife of cheating with co-worker

Bakersfield shooting rampage love triangle: Gunman accused wife of cheating with co-worker

Christopher Koulouris: About author bio at bottom of article.
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Javier Casarez and Maribel Casarez
Pictured Bakersfield shooter, Javier Casarez and wife, Maribel Casarez
Javier Casarez and Maribel Casarez
Pictured Bakersfield shooter, Javier Casarez and wife, Maribel Casarez

Javier Casarez Bakersfield shootings love triangle: Gunman accused his wife of cheating on him with one of his co workers- before claiming the lives of three others. 

The Bakersfield, California gunman who shot and killed his ex-wife and four others before turning the weapon on himself may have been triggered by a love triangle involving the the shooter, his estranged wife and a coworker.

The shootings which occurred at multiple locations over 37 minutes occurred spanning roughly three miles beginning shortly before 5:15 p.m. Wednesday. That’s when the gunman, identified by authorities as Javier Casarez, 54, opened fire on his ex-wife, Petra Maribel Bolaños De Casarez, 45, and Manuel Contreras, 50, inside the T&T Trucking company on Manwell Boulevard and killed them both.

Moments later, another man, Antonio Valadez, 50, showed up at the business, and was chased by the gunman, who was armed with a .50-caliber Smith & Wesson 500 handgun — a weapon billed as the world’s most powerful revolver — authorities said during a Friday morning press conference.

‘He was shooting rounds at the man and chasing him in a circle,’ witness Manny Meza told via the latimes. ‘It’s not something I thought I’d ever see. This is not normal.’

The gunman got in his car, followed Valadez to the nearby Bear Mountain Sports shop and fatally shot him, authorities said.

Meza said other employees told him that the gunman worked at T&T Trucking and suspected that De Casarez was having an affair with one of his coworkers.

Javier Casarez Bakersfield shooter, ‘I’m not a bad person.’

Fifteen minutes later, authorities received calls that Casarez had showed up at a home in the 9400 block of Breckenridge Road and opened fire, killing Laura Garcia, 31, and her father, Eliseo Cazares, 57.

Offered Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood, ‘We believe [Garcia] may have intervened to keep the suspect from approaching her father and he shot and killed both of them’. 

Minutes later, the gunman carjacked a woman who was driving with a child. Casarez told the woman he wasn’t a ‘bad person’ and let her and the child out of the car before he drove to Edison Highway, where he was spotted by a deputy, officials said.

The shooter then pulled into the parking lot of an auto repair business that authorities said is owned by one of Casarez’s friends. When the deputy approached, he got out of the car and shot himself in the chest.

Bakersfield shooting described as domestic violence incident: 

While authorities have yet to confirm a motive for the initial attack, they have characterized the incident as a ‘domestic violence tragedy.’

The LA Times reported gunman, Javier Casarez having filed for divorce last year after accusing his wife of cheated on him. The former couple had been married for 28 years and had six children between them.

In his petition for divorce filed in December, Casarez accused Petra Maribel Bolanos De Casarez of cheating and asked the judge for his wife’s text messages to specific phone numbers. The judge denied the request.

Wednesday’s shootings follow Bolanos recently filing for an unspecified change in orders involving child support and property.

A study published by the Violence Policy Center, a nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control, said there were 296 murder-suicides nationwide that resulted in 663 deaths in the first six months of 2017. The situation most commonly occurs between two intimate partners with a man killing his wife or girlfriend, typically due to a breakdown in the relationship, according to the study.

Bakersfield shooting: Victims i’d after gunman kills 6 including self

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