7-Eleven offers $100,000 reward for information leading to arrest in string of deadly California robberies

7-Eleven offered a $100,000 reward Wednesday for information leading to the arrest of a masked gunman that police believe is linked to a string of deadly robberies at the convenience store chain that happened early Monday morning in Southern California. 

A clerk, 40, and a 26-year-old man were killed at two separate locations, and three others were injured at two other locations. 

The robberies and shootings were in the cities of Ontario, Upland, Riverside, La Habra, Brea and Santa Ana –all near the Los Angeles area. 

"We are currently working with the local police to spread the news in the community," 7-Eleven officials said of the reward in a statement. It said tipsters could anonymously contact Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855-TIP-OCCS.

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The father of Matthew Hirsch, 40, who was working the overnight shift at a 7-Eleven in Brea, California, when he was killed just after 4 a.m. PT on Monday, said his son had recently gotten sober after dealing with drug addiction for years and had turned his life around with his new job.  

"He hadn’t had time to enjoy a normal life," Jim Hirsch said. "He goes through a struggle for goodness and it ends in a shooting."

Matthew Rule was shot and killed outside of a Santa Ana store allegedly by the same suspect. A witness told KCAL-TV Rule saved his life when the suspect tried to rob him. 

"I turned around, and there he was," the witness, identified only as Richard, said. "He put the gun to my head and said, 'Give me your money.'" Richard said Rule approached the suspect, telling him to leave the witness alone. 

Richard said the suspect then turned to Rule and fatally shot him. 

"I can't sleep. All I hear is that boom and seeing him fall," he said. 

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The suspect robbed Rule and fled the scene, police said. 

At a Riverside store, a customer was gravely wounded after being shot in the head. 

"He has to keep fighting," Jason Harrell’s brother said of the 46-year-old, who he said was now breathing on his own. "Jason is a fighter and so we fully expect him to fight through this whole thing and win this battle."

A clerk and a customer were shot at a La Habra location and were released from the hospital. 

One victim, Russell Browning, a 60-year-old truck driver, lost many of his teeth when the gunman shot him in the mouth as he sat in his car, KNBC-TV reported. The bullet came out through his cheek.

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"The wrong place at the wrong time. That's all it can go down as," Browning told the station. He had gone to the convenience store for doughnuts and milk before starting his shift. 

In surveillance images, the suspect is seen wearing a mask, a hood, and a black sweatshirt with white lettering.  

The first robbery was in Ontario. Less than an hour later, a store in Upland was robbed. An hour after that, a gunman shot and gravely wounded Harrell in Riverside while robbing a store. 

Rule was shot and killed outside a Santa Ana store around 3:20 a.m. Less than an hour later, Hirsch was shot and killed, and less than an hour after that, Browning and a clerk were injured at a store in La Habra. 

The robberies happened on July 11 - or 7-11 - when the company celebrates its anniversary.