This undated image provided by the Tustin Police Department shows Ali Syed, a suspect in a series of shootings Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 in southern California. In less than an hour, Syed, an unemployed part-time student, shot and killed a woman in her home and two commuters during carjackings early Tuesday, shot up vehicles on a Southern California freeway and committed suicide as police closed in on him, authorities said. (AP Photo/Tustin Police Dept.)
This undated image provided by the Tustin Police Department shows Ali Syed, a suspect in a series of shootings Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 in southern California. In less than an hour, Syed, an unemployed part-time student, shot and killed a woman in her home and two commuters during carjackings early Tuesday, shot up vehicles on a Southern California freeway and committed suicide as police closed in on him, authorities said. (AP Photo/Tustin Police Dept.)
This photo provided by the California Department of Motor Vehicles shows Melvin Edwards. Edwards, 69, was one of 3 fatalaties during Ali Syed's shooting spree on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. Edwards was forced from his BMW at a stop sign, marched to a curb and shot in the back of the head as other commuters watched in horror. (AP Photo/Dept of Motor Vehicles via The Orange County Register)
Police investigators examine a gun laying in the street at the intersection of Wanda Road and Katella Avenue in Orange, Calif., early Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 near where a body laid moments before. A shooting spree early Tuesday left three people dead and two others injured in Orange County, and the search for the gunman ended when he shot himself to death in a stolen car as police closed in, authorities said.(AP Photo/The Orange County Register, Mark Rightmire) MAGS OUT; LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT
Investigators walk past a tarp covered body in Orange, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. Police say a chaotic 25-minute shooting spree through Orange County left a trail of dead and injured victims before the shooter killed himself. Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino say there are at least six crime scenes with three people, including the suspected gunman, dead and several others wounded. Tustin police Supervisor Dave Kanoti said the shootings started with an apparent carjacking just after 5 a.m. Tuesday in an unincorporated Ladera Ranch area of Orange County. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
This undated photo provided by the Orange County Sheriff via The Orange County Register, shows Jeremy Lewis. Lewis, 26, of Fullerton was shot and killed in a gunman's rampage Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Orange County Sheriff via The Orange County Register)
TUSTIN, Calif. (AP) ? The link between the gunman in a series of deadly California shootings and the woman police say was his first victim remained a mystery Thursday as detectives struggled to piece together the threads of the bizarre and fast-moving rampage.
Homicide detectives were trying to determine how the shooter, 20-year-old Ali Syed, knew his first victim, a 20-year-old aspiring actress named Courtney Aoki, said Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.
Deputies found Aoki dead of multiple gunshot wounds at 4:45 a.m. Tuesday at the home Syed shared with his parents.
As Syed's parents placed a panicked 911 call, Syed sped away in their black SUV and went on to kill two drivers during carjackings, shoot up cars on a busy freeway interchange and injure at least three others before shooting himself in the head, police said.
Investigators will comb through computer and cellphone records for clues about how Aoki met Syed, how she got to the house and what she did for a living, said Amormino. Syed's parents did not recognize Aoki, he said.
Aoki and her mother lived in several Southern California cities in recent years, according to public records, but she was not living with her mother or attending school at the time she died, Amormino said.
Her mother did not return a message seeking comment.
Police described Syed as a video-game playing loner who was unemployed and lived with his parents in an upscale development in the southern Orange County suburb of Ladera Ranch, about 55 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
He was enrolled in one community college course, an introduction to computer repairs class at Saddleback College.
Syed kept to himself and sat in the back, but was a good student with an affinity for the material, said his instructor, Eugene Evancoe.
"It's a complete surprise to me," he said. "He didn't do anything to raise concern or alarm."
Police have said Syed had no criminal history or history of mental illness and there is no evidence of illegal drug use.
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