Police: Man cooperative after firing shots at mall

Witnesses said people ran, screaming and ducking for cover, when 42-year-old Marcos Gurrola fired into the air and onto the ground Saturday afternoon near the Macy's department store at the open-air Fashion Island mall in Newport Beach.

He paused to reload several times, police said.

Then Gurrola put the gun down and offered no resistance when bicycle officers arrested him, said Lt. John Lewis.

"He just gave up," Lewis said.

As investigators worked to determine a motive, the police chief of this upscale Orange County city said he believed Gurrola fired shots as a "way of venting his life problems."

Beach Police Chief David McGill told the Los Angeles Times that the gunman was "unhappy about a lot in life and decided this was his best way of releasing his tension."

McGill also expressed relief that no one was hit by the gunfire.

"Thank God he pointed up," he said. "Luck was on our side."

Gurrola, of Garden Grove, was charged with shooting at an inhabited dwelling. He was being held Sunday on $250,000 bail. Police recovered a handgun and ammunition.