An 89-year-old woman said she was attacked by a man who allegedly set off an explosive device at a Ontario Sam’s Club this week.
Ester Gonzalez said she recognized Hugo Gonzalez in the news coverage following Thursday’s incident at the store. The two are not related and she had never seen him before he rang her doorbell earlier this week.
She told KTLA through an interpreter that Gonzalez pretended to be delivering a pizza when he forced his way into her Rancho Cucamonga home, threw her to the ground and tied up her arms with zip ties.
She said she thought the man was going to kill her.
Gonzalez, 49, of Fontana, took some electronics and eventually left the home.
A neighbor, Chris Valenzuela, recalled seeing the suspect in a car before the attack. He told KTLA the driver at one point put a Dominoes Pizza roof sign on his car, made a U-turn and headed toward the victim’s house.
On Thursday, Gonzalez was seen on surveillance video going into the Sam’s Club wearing a medical mask and detonating the explosive.
He was eventually arrested and materials similar to those used in the devices in the store were found in the suspect’s vehicle. Investigators with the Ontario Police Department also searched an apartment in the 16500 block of Arrow Boulevard in Fontana, officials said, though the residence was later deemed safe.
Police also found the pizza sign Gonzalez used as a decoy to get into Ester Gonzalez’s house.
The incident remains under investigation and the motive is unclear.
Gonzalez has no known links to terrorism, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.