# List of homicides in California

Once discussion is closed, please place on talk page: {{Old AfD multi|page=List of homicides in California|date=19 September 2022|result='''keep'''}} Do not add additional homicides unless there is an article on the English Wikipedia. Please also insert any new incidents in the appropriate sub&#x2D;list, depending on the type of homicide, and in the correct order. This is a list of notable homicides in California. This list includes notable homicides committed in the U.S. state of California that have a Wikipedia article on the killing, the killer, or the victim. It is divided into four subject areas as follows:
* Multiple homicides – homicides having multiple victims, including incidents involving spree killers, acts of terrorism, two mass homicides involving criminal acts causing airline crashes, and a mass suicide directed by a cult leader. The article includes sub-lists for homicides involving school shootings, familicides, and police shootouts.
* Serial killers – persons who murder three or more persons with the incidents taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them
* Single homicides – notable homicides involving a single fatality, including homicides involving celebrities as victims or perpetrators
* Bias homicides – includes attacks directed against Native Americans (a more complete list of those incidents is set forth in the California genocide article), Asian immigrants, members of a religious group, and individuals based on sexual orientation

## Multiple homicides

Listed in chronological order
| No. | Incident | Location | Date | Deaths | Description |
| 1 | Lexington murders | Lexington | 1883-03-11 | 2 | Double murder, two of the perpetrators were hanged |
| 2 | Los Angeles Times bombing | Los Angeles | 1910-10-1 | 21 | Union member bombed the Los Angeles Times building |
| 3 | Adele Ritchie | Laguna Beach | 1930-04-24 | 2 | Prima donna of comic opera who shot and killed a set designer and then shot herself |
| 4 | Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 | Contra Costa County | 1964-05-07 | 44 | Pilot of airliner shot during flight causing plane to crash |
| 5 | 1965 Highway 101 sniper attack | Orcutt | 1965-04-25 | 4 | 16-year-old youth opened fire on cars traveling along the 101 freeway |
| 6 | Tate–LaBianca murders | Los Angeles | 1969-08-08/10 | 8 | Murders perpetrated by members of the Manson Family, victims included actress Sharon Tate |
| 7 | William Ray Bonner | Los Angeles | 1973-04-22 | 7 | Rampage shooting by former service station attendant |
| 8 | 1974 Los Angeles International Airport bombing | Los Angeles | 1974-08-06 | 3 | Bombing by Yugoslavian immigrant in Pan Am's international terminal killed three and injured 36 |
| 9 | Golden Dragon massacre | San Francisco | 1977-09-04 | 5 | Gang-related shooting at Chinese restaurant |
| 10 | Robert Alton Harris | San Diego | 1978-07-05 | 2 | Murdered two teenagers eating cheeseburgers in a supermarket parking lot; executed in 1992, first person executed in California since 1967 |
| 10 | Moscone–Milk assassinations | San Francisco | 1978-11-27 | 2 | San Francisco Supervisor Dan White shot Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk |
| 11 | Keddie murders | Keddie | 1981-04-11 | 4 | Unsolved quadruple homicide of one woman and three children at the Keddie Resort |
| 12 | Wonderland murders | Laurel Canyon | 1981-07-01 | 4 | Unsolved murder of four persons at a drug house, also known as the "Laurel Canyon Murders" |
| 13 | San Ysidro McDonald's massacre | San Ysidro | 1984-07-18 | 23 | Mass shooting at McDonald's restaurant |
| 14 | Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 | San Luis Obispo County | 1987-12-07 | 43 | Plane crashed after being hijacked |
| 15 | Richard Farley | Sunnyvale | 1988-02-16 | 7 | Workplace shooting at ESL Incorporated |
| 16 | 1991 Sacramento hostage crisis | Sacramento | 1991-04-04 | 6 | Hostage crisis at Good Guys store in Florin Mall, 40 hostages held at gunpoint |
| 17 | Lynwood Drake | Morro Bay/Paso Robles | 1992-11-07 | 7 | Spree killing at two homes and a card club |
| 18 | 101 California Street shooting | San Francisco | 1993-07-01 | 9 | Mass shooting at offices of Petit & Martin law firm |
| 19 | O. J. Simpson murder case | Los Angeles | 1994-06-12 | 2 | Unsolved murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. O. J. Simpson tried and acquitted |
| 20 | Heaven's Gate | Rancho Santa Fe | 1997-03-26 | 39 | Mass suicide by cult members at direction of cult leader |
| 21 | Black Widow Murders | Los Angeles | 1999, 2005 | 2 | Two elderly women convicted of murdering two vagrants, the first in 1999 and the second in 2005 |
| 22 | Glenn Helzer | Concord | 2000 | 5 | Former leader of the "Children of Thunder" cult murdered five people as part of an extortion plot |
| 23 | 2001 Nevada County shootings | Nevada County | 2001-01-10 | 3 | Shooting spree by 40-year-old man with semi-automatic pistol |
| 24 | 2002 Los Angeles International Airport shooting | Los Angeles | 2002-07-04 | 3 | Gunman opened fire at ticket counter of El Al, Israel's national airline |
| 25 | 2004 Jenner, California, double murder | Jenner | 2004-08-14 | 2 | Young Midwestern couple shot as they slept on a Sonoma Coast beach |
| 26 | 2005 Glendale train crash | Los Angeles | 2005-01-26 | 11 | Suicidal man parked on tracks and caused crash of Metrolink commuter train |
| 27 | Goleta postal facility shootings | Goleta | 2006-01-30 | 8 | Spree killing by former postal worker |
| 28 | Murder of Jan Pawel and Quiana Jenkins Pietrzak | Riverside County | 2008-10-15 | 2 | Married couple tortured, sexually assaulted and shot by four Marines |
| 29 | SiPort shooting | Santa Clara | 2008-11-14 | 3 | Former employee returned to workplace and shot the CEO and two other executives in the head |
| 30 | Daniel Wozniak | Los Alamitos | 2010-05-21 | 2 | Struggling actor murdered soldier to steal his combat pay and then murdered a friend of the soldier to make it appear the soldier killed her and then disappeared |
| 31 | 2011 Seal Beach shooting | Seal Beach | 2011-10-12 | 8 | Mass shooting at a hair salon, deadliest mass shooting in Orange County history |
| 32 | Southern California Edison shooting | Irwindale | 2011-12-16 | 3 | Workplace shooting |
| 33 | 2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide | San Francisco | 2012-03-23 | 5 | Murder of family of Chinese immigrants, sometimes called the "Lei family quintuple slayings" |
| 34 | Murder of Ming Qu and Ying Wu | Los Angeles | 2012-04-11 | 2 | Chinese graduate students at USC shot to death while sitting in their BMW near campus |
| 35 | Murders of Claudia Maupin and Oliver Northup | Davis | 2013-04-14 | 2 | Torture, mutilation and murder of elderly couple in their home, perpetrator a 15-year-old psychopath |
| 36 | 2015 San Bernardino attack | San Bernardino | 2015-12-02 | 16 | Terrorist attack by Muslim couple on public health department Christmas party |
| 37 | San Francisco UPS shooting | San Francisco | 2017-06-14 | 4 | Workplace shooting at UPS facility |
| 38 | Rancho Tehama shootings | Rancho Tehama | 2017-11-13 | 6 | Shooting spree in which five were killed and 18 injured at 8 crime scenes |
| 39 | Yountville shooting | Yountville | 2018-03-08 | 5 | Murder-suicide shooting at Veterans Home of California |
| 40 | Thousand Oaks shooting | Thousand Oaks | 2018-11-07 | 13 | Mass shooting at Borderline Bar and Grill |
| 41 | Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting | Gilroy | 2019-07-28 | 4 | Mass shooting at garlic festival |
| 42 | Orinda shooting | Orinda | 2019-10-31 | 5 | Mass shooting during a house party |
| 43 | 2019 Fresno shooting | Fresno | 2019-11-17 | 4 | Mass shooting at football watch party |
| 44 | Aguanga shooting | Aguanga | 2020-09-07 | 7 | Mass murder at residence used to grow illegal marijuana |
| 45 | 2021 Orange, California office shooting | Orange | 2021-03-31 | 4 | Shooting at office building |
| 46 | 2021 San Jose shooting | San Jose | 2021-05-26 | 10 | Mass shooting at transit rail yard |
| 47 | 2022 Sacramento shooting | Sacramento | 2022-04-03 | 6 | Mass shooting by multiple shooters in downtown Sacramento |

### School shootings

Listed in chronological order
| No. | Incident | Location | Date | Deaths | Description |
| 1 | California State University, Fullerton massacre | Fullerton | 1976-07-12 | 7 | School shooting perpetrated by university custodian |
| 2 | Cleveland Elementary School shooting (San Diego) | San Diego | 1979-01-29 | 2 | 16-year-old girl shot 11 persons, killing two |
| 3 | Cleveland Elementary School shooting (Stockton) | Stockton | 1989-01-17 | 5 | School shooting |
| 4 | Lindhurst High School shooting | Olivehurst | 1992-05-01 | 4 | School shooting perpetrated by former student |
| 5 | San Diego State University shooting | San Diego | 1996-08-15 | 3 | Graduate student shot and killed three professors at engineering building |
| 6 | Costa Mesa school car attack | Costa Mesa | 1999-05-03 | 2 | Man drove his Cadillac into preschool playground and opened fire, killing two and wounding five |
| 7 | 2001 Isla Vista killings | Isla Vista | 2001-02-23 | 5 | Vehicular homicide and assault near UCSB campus, perpetrator was son of director Dan Attias |
| 8 | Santana High School shooting | Santee | 2001-03-05 | 2 | School shooting perpetrated by 15-year-old student |
| 9 | 2012 Oikos University shooting | Oakland | 2012-04-02 | 7 | Mass shooting at Korean Christian college |
| 10 | 2013 Santa Monica shootings | Santa Monica | 2013-06-07 | 6 | Spree shooting at Santa Monica College campus following domestic dispute and house fire |
| 11 | 2014 Isla Vista killings | Isla Vista | 2014-05-23 | 7 | Perpetrator conducted vehicular homicide and murder with knives in Isla Vista (close to UCSB), killing six UCSB students and himself. Perpetrator was son of director Peter Rodger. |
| 12 | 2016 UCLA shooting | Los Angeles | 2016-06-01 | 3 | Unsuccessful Ph.D. student shot his thesis adviser, his estranged wife, and himself |
| 13 | 2017 North Park Elementary School shooting | San Bernardino | 2017-04-10 | 3 | Man shot his estranged wife at the school where she worked and a student standing behind her and then killed himself |
| 14 | 2019 Saugus High School shooting | Santa Clarita | 2019-11-14 | 3 | Student age 16 shot five schoolmates, killed two, then killed himself |
| 15 | Union City, California elementary school double murder | Union City, California | 2019-11-20 | 2 | Boys ages 11 and 14 shot in school parking lot by two gang members |

### Familicides

Listed in chronological order
| No. | Incident | Location | Date | Deaths | Description |
| 1 | James Dunham | Campbell | 1896-05-26 | 6 | Killed his wife, 3 members of her family and 2 household servants |
| 2 | George Hassell | Whittier | 1917, 1926 | 13 | Spree killer, killed his wife and three children in Whittier, then killed his second family in Texas in 1926 |
| 3 | Ralph Works | Pasadena | 1941-08-08 | 2 | Murder-suicide in which former professional baseball pitcher shot himself and his wife |
| 4 | Barbecue murders | Terra Linda | 1975-06-21 | 2 | Married couple murdered in their home by adopted daughter and her boyfriend who attempted to dispose of bodies by burning in a barbecue pit |
| 5 | Judith Barsi | Canoga Park | 1988-07-25 | 3 | Murder suicide in which father killed his 10-year-old actress-daughter and wife |
| 6 | Ramon Salcido | Sonoma/Cotati | 1989-04-14 | 7 | Spree killer of six family members and workplace supervisor |
| 7 | Lyle and Erik Menendez | Beverly Hills | 1989-08-20 | 2 | Shotgun murders of José and Mary Louise ("Kitty") Menendez by their sons |
| 8 | Betty Broderick | San Diego | 1989-11-05 | 2 | Convicted of murdering her ex-husband and second wife, later depicted in A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story |
| 9 | Dana Ewell | Fresno | 1992-04-19 | 3 | Ordered the killing of his father, mother and sister |
| 10 | Marcus Wesson | Fresno | 2004-03-12 | 9 | Father murdered his family |
| 11 | Covina massacre | Covina | 2008-12-24 | 10 | Christmas Eve shooting by family member wearing Santa suit |
| 12 | Hart family murders | Mendocino County | 2018-03-26 | 8 | Murder-suicide in which white lesbian couple murdered their six adopted black children and then killed themselves |

### Police shootouts and killings

Listed in chronological order
| No. | Incident | Location | Date | Deaths | Description |
| 1 | Walter H. Auble | Los Angeles | 1908-09-09 | 1 | Police chief of Los Angeles shot and killed by a burglary suspect while trying to make an arrest |
| 2 | September 1937 Folsom escape attempt | Folsom | 1937-09-19 | 5 | Attempted prison escape in which the warden, two guards, and two prisoners were killed; five others involved in the attempt were executed |
| 3 | The Onion Field | Los Angeles | 1963-03-09 | 1 | Kidnapping and murder of LAPD officer, later a book by Joseph Wambaugh |
| 4 | Murders of Theodore L. Newton Jr. and George F. Azrak | Anza | 1967-06-17 | 2 | Two Border Patrol agents kidnapped and murdered by marijuana smugglers |
| 5 | Marin County Civic Center attacks | San Rafael | 1970-08-07 | 4 | Kidnapping of judge followed by shootout with police, led to manhunt for Angela Davis |
| 6 | Newhall incident | Valencia | 1970-04-05 | 5 | Shootout in which four California Highway Patrol officers were killed, deadliest day in California law enforcement history |
| 7 | Symbionese Liberation Army shootout | Los Angeles | 1974-05-17 | 6 | Members of the group shot or burned in South LA house during shootout with LAPD |
| 8 | Norco shootout | Norco | 1980-05-09 | 3 | Shootout between five heavily armed bank robbers and sheriff deputies, one officer and two perpetrators killed; eight other officers, a civilian, and two perpetrators injured |
| 9 | North Hollywood shootout | North Hollywood | 1997-02-28 | 2 | Shootout between police and bank robbers wearing body armor, both bank robbers killed |
| 10 | Kevin Gaines | Los Angeles | 1997-03-18 | 1 | Police officer who also worked security for Death Row Records and was living with Suge Knight's estranged wife was shot by an undercover LAPD detective |
| 11 | Stevenson Ranch shootout | Stevenson Ranch | 2001-08-31 | 2 | Shootout resulting in deaths of a convicted felon and a sheriff's deputy |
| 12 | 2009 shootings of Oakland police officers | Oakland | 2009-03-21 | 5 | Wanted felon shot two officers during a traffic stop, then shot and killed two SWAT officers |
| 13 | Christopher Dorner shootings and manhunt | Southern California | 2013-02 | 5 | After being fired, former LAPD officer killed two civilians and two law enforcement, manhunt ended in shootout at cabin in Big Bear |
| 14 | 2013 shooting of Santa Cruz police officers | Santa Cruz | 2013-02-26 | 3 | Two police officers shot and killed, perpetrator then killed in shootout with police |
| 15 | Luis Bracamontes | Sacramento | 2014-10-24 | 2 | Undocumented immigrant opened fire on sheriff's deputies, killing two; Donald Trump ran an ad blaming Democrats for the murders |
| 16 | 2020 boogaloo murders | Oakland Ben Lomond | 2020-05-29 2020-06-06 | 2 | Two ambush-style attacks occurred against security personnel and law enforcement officers in California. The attacks left two dead and injured three others. |
| 17 | 2023 Goshen shooting | Goshen | 2023-01-16 | 6 | Execution-style killing of six persons, including a 10-month-old baby at a house where a search warrant had been executed one week earlier as part of a drug investigation |
| 18 | 2023 Monterey Park shooting | Monterey Park | 2023-01-21 | 12 | Mass shooting at a dance studio following Lunar New Year celebration on nearby street |
| 19 | 2023 Half Moon Bay shootings | Half Moon Bay | 2023-01-23 | 7 | Mass shooting/workplace violence at two farms |

## Serial killers

Listed in chronological order by date of earliest homicide
| No. | Incident | Location | Date | Deaths | Description | Sources |
| 1 | Earle Nelson | California, Oregon + | 1926–1927 | 22–29 | Known as the "Gorilla Man", the first serial killer in USA to receive widespread media attention | |
| 2 | Wineville Chicken Coop murders, Gordon Stewart Northcott | Wineville | 1926–1928 | 3+ | Series of abductions and murders committed by a 19-year-old farmer, his mother, and his nephew | |
| 3 | Bouncing Ball Killer | Los Angeles | 1959–1960 | 6–7+ | Serial killer also known as the Rubber Ball Strangler | |
| 4 | Patrick Kearney | Southern California | 1962–1977 | 21–43 | Serial killer and child molester, a list of men believed to be victims was found in his trunk | |
| 5 | Zodiac Killer | San Francisco | 1968–1969 | 5–37 | Killed three couples and a cab driver and wrote 15 letter to local newspapers, including cryptograms and clues | |
| 6 | Rodney Alcala | California | 1968–1979 | 8+ | Serial killer sometimes known as "The Dating Game Killer" because he won an episode of The Dating Game television show | |
| 7 | Samuel Little | 19 states | 1970–2005 | 60–93 | Confessed to murdering 93 women, most prolific serial killer in U.S. history | |
| 8 | Juan Corona | Sutter County | 1971 | 25+ | Mexican serial killer who was convicted of the murders of 25 migrant farm workers found buried in shallow graves in peach orchards along the Feather River in Sutter County | |
| 9 | Randy Kraft | Southern California | 1971–1983 | 16–67 | Known as the "Scorecard Killer", raped and murdered at least 16 young men | |
| 10 | Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders | North Bay | 1972–1973 | 7+ | Female hitchhikers found nude in rural areas of Sonoma and Santa Rosa Counties | |
| 11 | Zebra murders | San Francisco | 1973–1974 | 15–73+ | Racially-motivated attacks by a group of four black serial killers | |
| 12 | Doodler | San Francisco | 1974–1975 | 6-16 | Unidentified serial killer who sketched his male victims before having sex with and killing them | |
| 13 | Joseph James DeAngelo | California | 1974–1986 | 13 | Serial killer and rapist | |
| 14 | William Suff | Lake Elsinore | 1974–1992 | 13+ | Serial killer known as "The Riverside Prostitute Killer" and "The Lake Elsinore Killer" | |
| 15 | Gypsy Hill killings | San Mateo County | 1976 | 5+ | Homicides of young women and girls by a suspected serial killer known in media as the "San Mateo Slasher" | |
| 16 | Steven David Catlin | Bakersfield, Fresno | 1976–1984 | 3 | Convicted of murdering two wives and his adoptive mother | |
| 17 | Hillside Strangler | Los Angeles | 1977–1978 | 12 | Serial killers later identified as cousins Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono Jr. | |
| 18 | Roger Kibbe | Sacramento | 1977–1987 | 8+ | Serial killer and rapist known as the "I-5 Strangler" | |
| 19 | Joseph Naso | Northern California | 1977–1994 | 6–10 | Serial killer and rapist | |
| 20 | Richard Trenton Chase | Sacramento | 1977–1978 | 6 | Serial killer, necrophile, and cannibal that murdered 6 men, women, and children at random in a month long killing spree | |
| 21 | Skid Row Stabber | Los Angeles | 1978–1979 | 12 | Unsolved murders of homeless people | |
| 22 | Gerald and Charlene Gallego | Sacramento | 1978–1980 | 10 | Serial killers who kidnapped and murder teenagers after keeping as sex slaves | |
| 23 | Joseph Edward Duncan | California, Idaho | 1978–2005 | 5–8 | Convicted serial killer and child molester | |
| 24 | Terry Peder Rasmussen | California, New Hampshire | 1978–2002 | 6+ | Serial killer sometimes known as "Bob Evans" and "The Chameleon Killer" | |
| 25 | Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris | Southern California | 1979 | 5 | Known as the "Tool Box Killers", murdered and raped five teenage girls | |
| 26 | William Bonin | Southern California | 1979–1980 | 21–36+ | Serial killer, pederast and sex offender who committed the rape, torture, and murder of a minimum of 21 young men and boys | |
| 27 | David Carpenter | San Francisco | 1979–1981 | 8–10+ | Serial killer known for stalking and killing victims in state parks near San Francisco, also known as the Trailside Killer | |
| 28 | Doug Clark (serial killer) | Los Angeles | 1980 | 6+ | Serial killer with accomplice Carol Bundy known as the "Sunset Strip Killers" | |
| 28 | David Mason | Oakland | 1980 | 5–6 | Serial killer killed at least four elderly people; executed in 1993 | |
| 30 | Dorothea Puente | Sacramento | 1982–1988 | 9 | Ran a boarding house and murdered elderly and mentally disabled boarders before cashing their Social Security checks | |
| 31 | Leonard Lake and Charles Ng | Calaveras County | 1983–1985 | 11-25 | Ex-Marine who had a cabin that he described as a "dungeon" where he kidnapped, raped, and murdered women | |
| 32 | Speed Freak Killers | San Joaquin County | 1984–1999 | 4–19 | Methamphetamine users convicted of four murders | |
| 33 | Grim Sleeper | Los Angeles | 1984–2007 | 10-25+ | Serial killer who received nickname when he appeared to have taken a 14-year break from his crimes, from 1988 to 2002 | |
| 34 | Richard Ramirez | Los Angeles, San Gabriel Valley | 1984–1985 | 13 | Serial killer known as the "Night Stalker" | |
| 35 | Michael Hughes (serial killer) | California | 1986–1993 | 7+ | Former security guard who killed women living or working on the streets | |
| 36 | Joseph Danks | Los Angeles | 1986-1990 | 7 | Murdered 6 homeless men in a month long killing spree, and strangled his cellmate after being convicted | <ref"Man Gets Death Sentence for Killing Cellmate". Los Angeles Times. Apr 4, 1993.</ref> |
| 37 | Chester Turner | Los Angeles | 1987–1998 | 15+ | Convicted of murdering 10 women; another man was earlier wrongfully convicted for his crimes | |
| 38 | Efren Saldivar | Glendale | 1988–1998 | 6–200+ | Respiratory therapist at Adventist Health Glendale, killed patients by injecting a paralytic drug inducing cardiac and respiratory arrest, known as Angel of Death | |
| 39 | Keith Hunter Jesperson | California, Oregon | 1990–1995 | 8–185 | Known as the "Happy Face Killer" because he drew smiley faces on his many letters to the media and authorities | |
| 40 | Michael Gargiulo | Southern California | 1993–2008 | 3–10 | Serial killer known as The Hollywood Ripper | |
| 41 | Wayne Adam Ford | California | 1997–1998 | 4+ | Long-haul driver murdered and dismembered three sex workers and a hitchhiker | |
| 42 | Pittsburg serial murders | Pittsburg | 1998–1999 | 5 | Killings of one man and four women, some of the victims either engaged in prostitution or were drug addicts | |
| 43 | Cary Stayner | Mariposa County | 1999 | 4 | Serial killer who killed women near Yosemite | |

## Single homicides

Listed in chronological order
| No. | Incident | Location | Date | Description |
| 1 | Virginia Rappe | San Francisco | 1921-09-09 | Silent film actress, comedian Roscoe Arbuckle tried and acquitted of manslaughter |
| 2 | William Desmond Taylor | Los Angeles | 1922-02-01 | Director of 59 silent films shot in the back at his apartment, unsolved, subject of frenzy of sensationalist press coverage |
| 3 | Murder of Marion Parker | Los Angeles | 1927-12-17 | 12-year-old girl abducted and murdered, billed as "the most horrible crime of the 1920s" by the Los Angeles Times |
| 4 | Brooke Hart | San Jose | 1933-11-09 | Son of department store owner kidnapped and murdered, perpetrators then lynched |
| 5 | Sleepy Lagoon murder | Commerce | 1942-08-02 | Murder of José Gallardo Díaz, who was discovered unconscious and dying near a swimming hole |
| 6 | Barbara Graham | Burbank | 1943-03-09 | Murdered widow Mabel Monohan in home burglary; Graham later depicted in I Want to Live! |
| 7 | Black Dahlia | Los Angeles | 1947-01-14 | Unsolved murder and mutilation of 22-year-old woman |
| 8 | Bugsy Siegel | Beverly Hills | 1947-06-20 | Mobster murdered in his Beverly Hills home, shot through window with .30 caliber military M1 carbine |
| 9 | Murder of Johnny Stompanato | Beverly Hills | 1958-04-04 | Murder of Lana Turner's boyfriend by Turner's 14-year-old daughter Cheryl Crane |
| 10 | Elizabeth Ann Duncan | Ventura | 1958 | Woman hired hitman to kill her daughter-in-law; last woman executed in California |
| 11 | Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer | Mission Hills | 1959-01-21 | Former child star shot and killed trying to collect a $50 debt |
| 12 | Karyn Kupcinet | West Hollywood | 1963-11-28 | Actress murdered six days after assassination of President Kennedy, prompting John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories |
| 13 | Sam Cooke | South Central Los Angeles | 1964-12-11 | R&B singer shot and killed by motel manager |
| 14 | Murder of Cheri Jo Bates | Riverside | 1966-10-30 | 18-year-old college freshman stabbed and slashed to death on grounds of Riverside City College |
| 15 | Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy | Los Angeles | 1968-06-05 | Assassination at the Ambassador Hotel by Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan |
| 16 | Ramon Novarro | Laurel Canyon | 1968-10-30 | Actor murdered by brothers hired for sexual services |
| 17 | Killing of Meredith Hunter | Alameda County | 1969-10-24 | Killed by members of Hells Angels during Altamont Free Concert by The Rolling Stones |
| 18 | Marcus Foster | Oakland | 1973-11-06 | Superintendent of Oakland school district assassinated by the Symbionese Liberation Army |
| 19 | Murder of Arlis Perry | Stanford | 1974-10-12 | Newlywed murdered inside Stanford Memorial Church, solved 40 years later with DNA evidence |
| 20 | Murder of Betty Van Patter | San Francisco | 1974-12-13 | Bookkeeper for Black Panther Party was beaten to death, unsolved, she had reportedly threatened to make public her discovery that the party doctored its books |
| 21 | Sal Mineo | West Hollywood | 1976-02-12 | Actor stabbed in the heart by a mugger |
| 22 | Danny Lockin | Anaheim | 1977-08-21 | Actor stabbed over 100 times by man he met in a gay bar |
| 23 | Murder of Mary Quigley | Santa Clara | 1977-09-10 | High school senior attended a beer party and was discovered the next day hanging from a chain-link fence in a park near the site of the party, case solved 30 years later with DNA evidence |
| 24 | Glen Stewart Godwin | Palm Springs | 1980 | Murdered drug dealer Kim LeValley, stabbing him 26 times, later escaped from prison and was on FBI's 10 most wanted list |
| 25 | Murder of Suzanne Bombardier | Antioch | 1980-06-22 | 14-year-old honor roll student raped and murdered by a convicted sex offender and dumped in the San Joaquin River |
| 26 | Dorothy Stratten | Los Angeles | 1980-08-14 | Playboy Playmate and actress murdered by her estranged husband and manager Paul Snider |
| 27 | Death of Susan Louise Jordan | Riverside | 1980-10-28 | 15-year-old girl abducted and dragged to an orange grove where she was raped and strangled |
| 28 | Dominique Dunne | Los Angeles | 1982-11-04 | Actress murdered by ex-boyfriend |
| 29 | Killing of Marvin Gaye | Los Angeles | 1984-04-01 | Shot and killed in an altercation with his father |
| 30 | Killing of Roberta 'Bibi' Lee | Oakland | 1984-11-04 | UC Berkeley student killed by her boyfriend |
| 31 | Herb Wallerstein | Los Angeles | 1985-09-27 | Television director and producer was killed with a baseball bat by his Salvadoran housekeeper, she was found not guilty in light of testimony of physical abuse by Wallerstein |
| 32 | Murder of Michele Avila | Los Angeles | 1985-10-01 | Murder of 17-year-old girl by her former best friends and rivals |
| 33 | Murder of Sherri Rasmussen | Van Nuys | 1986-02-24 | Woman beaten and shot by female LAPD officer |
| 34 | Death of Dag Drollet | Los Angeles | 1987-05-16 | Shooting of Cheyenne Brando's boyfriend by her brother Christian Brando, who pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter |
| 35 | Rebecca Schaeffer | Los Angeles | 1989-07-18 | Murder of actress by 19-year-old obsessed fan/stalker Robert John Bardo |
| 36 | Huey P. Newton | Oakland | 1989-08-22 | Murdered on the streets of Oakland |
| 37 | William Arnold Newton | West Hollywood | 1990-10-29 | Gay pornographic actor (stage name Billy London) murdered and placed in dumpster with head and feet in plastic bags |
| 38 | Killing of Latasha Harlins | South Central Los Angeles | 1991-03-16 | Fatal shooting of 15-year-old African-American girl by Korean-American convenience store owner |
| 39 | Murder of Lea Mek | El Monte | 1993-12-03 | Cambodian refugee and gang member killed in a gang shooting in a pool hall, incident triggered a chain reaction of gang violence |
| 40 | Murder of Polly Klaas | Petaluma | 1993-10-01 | 12-year-old kidnapped during a slumber party and later strangled by Richard Allen Davis |
| 41 | Sara Kruzan | Riverside | 1994-03-09 | Sexually trafficked at age 16, she shot and killed the surrogate father who was trafficking her, later became an anti-trafficking activist |
| 42 | Murder of Stephanie Kuhen | Los Angeles | 1995-09-17 | Three-year-old girl killed by gang gunfire; President Bill Clinton condemned the incident and promised funding to fight gangs |
| 43 | Haing S. Ngor | Los Angeles | 1996-02-25 | Academy Award winning actor murdered in robbery outside his house |
| 44 | Murder of Ennis Cosby | Los Angeles | 1997-01-16 | Son of Bill Cosby shot in the head in robbery attempt at the Mulholland exit to the 405 freeway |
| 45 | Murder of the Notorious B.I.G. | Los Angeles | 1997-03-09 | Murder of rapper in drive-by shooting |
| 46 | Phil Hartman | Encino | 1998-05-27 | Actor/comedian shot by his wife as he slept |
| 47 | Murder of Michelle O'Keefe | Palmdale | 2000-02-22 | 18-year-old aspiring actress murdered on way home from shooting a Kid Rock video, featured on America's Most Wanted and Dateline NBC |
| 48 | Bonny Lee Bakley | Los Angeles | 2001-05-04 | Wife of actor Robert Blake shot and killed in parked car at restaurant, Blake was tried and found not guilty |
| 49 | Murder of Samantha Runnion | Stanton | 2002-07-15 | Five-year-old girl abducted from her home and murdered |
| 50 | Murder of Laci Peterson | Modesto | 2002-12-24 | Murder of pregnant woman by her husband, Scott Peterson |
| 51 | Murder of Lana Clarkson | Alhambra | 2003-02-03 | Murder of actress by record producer Phil Spector |
| 52 | Murder of Yetunde Price | Compton | 2003-09-14 | Half-sister and personal assistant to Venus and Serena Williams killed in gang shooting in Compton |
| 53 | Tara Correa-McMullen | Inglewood | 2005-10-21 | Actress who played gang member Graciela on TV series Judging Amy shot in front of an apartment complex |
| 54 | Murder of Chauncey Bailey | Oakland | 2007-08-02 | Journalist shot by member of a crime syndicate he was investigating for a story |
| 55 | Murder of Jamiel Shaw II | Los Angeles | 2008-03-02 | 17-year-old high school player shot by two Hispanic men while returning home from Beverly Center |
| 56 | Murder of Sandra Cantu | Tracy | 2009-03-27 | Former Sunday school teacher kidnapped, raped, and murdered eight-year-old girl |
| 57 | Death of Michael Jackson | Los Angeles | 2009-06-25 | Physician Conrad Murray found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for improperly administering the anesthetic drug propofol |
| 58 | Ronni Chasen | Beverly Hills | 2010-11-16 | Hollywood publicist shot and killed while driving home as part of a random robbery |
| 59 | Murder of Jeff Hall | Riverside | 2011-05-01 | Leader of neo-Nazis shot to death by his 10-year-old son |
| 60 | Murder of Michelle Le | Hayward | 2011-05-27 | Nursing student murdered by a woman who believed Le had an affair with her boyfriend |
| 61 | Death of Elisa Lam | Los Angeles | 2013-02-19 | Body recovered from a water tank after a stay at the Cecil Hotel, later the subject of the Netflix series Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel |
| 62 | Murder of Gabriel Fernandez | Palmdale | 2013-05-24 | Eight-year-old boy beaten to death by mother and her boyfriend, long history of abuse overlooked by county child protective services, depicted in the Netflix series, The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez |
| 63 | Suge Knight | Compton | 2015-01-29 | Convicted of voluntary manslaughter for crashing car into and killing Terry Carter and injuring a second man |
| 64 | Murder of Madyson Middleton | Santa Cruz | 2015-07-25 | 8-year-old girl lured into another apartment where she was strangled and placed in a dumpster by a 15-year-old boy |
| 65 | Nipsey Hussle | Los Angeles | 2019-03-31 | Rapper shot at least 10 times in parking lot of a clothing store, two others wounded |
| 66 | Murder of Brianna Kupfer | Los Angeles | 2022-01-13 | 24-year-old University of California, Los Angeles student stabbed and murdered by a 31-year-old man with an extensive criminal record. |
| 67 | 2022 Laguna Woods shooting | Laguna Woods | 2022-05-15 | Mass shooting at Geneva Presbyterian Church, five injured, one killed |

## Bias homicides

Listed in chronological order. NOTE: A more complete list of killings of indigenous peoples of California during the California Indian Wars is presented in the article on California genocide.
| No. | Incident | Location | Date | Deaths | Description |
| 1 | Sacramento River massacre | Upper Sacramento Valley | 1846-04-05 | 120–700 | Mass shooting of Wintu people on banks of Sacramento River, perpetrated by soldiers led by John C. Frémont |
| 2 | Sutter Buttes massacre | Sutter Buttes | 1846-06 | | Murder of California Indians by militarized expeditionary band led by John C. Frémont, estimated Native American deaths range from several hundred to several thousand |
| 3 | Bridge Gulch massacre | Trinity County | 1852 | 150 | Massacre of Wintu people in retaliation for killing of Col. John Anderson |
| 4 | Yontoket massacre | Yontocket | 1853 | 400–500 | Massacre of Tolowa people in northwestern California |
| 5 | Mendocino War | Mendocino County | 1859–1860 | 283+ | White settlers known as the "Eel River Rangers" killed at least 283 Indian men |
| 6 | 1860 Wiyot massacre | Humboldt County | 1860 | 80–250 | Massacre of Wiyot people by white settlers |
| 7 | Los Angeles Chinese massacre of 1871 | Los Angeles | 1871-10-24 | 19 | Racial massacre targeting Chinese immigrants |
| 8 | San Francisco riot of 1877 | San Francisco | 1877-07-23/25 | 4 | Three-day pogrom against Chinese immigrants |
| 9 | Trout Creek Outrage | Truckee | 1876-06-17/18 | 1 | Anti-Chinese violence in which cabins housing Chinese immigrants were set on fire and shot fired as they fled, killing one and wounding another |
| 10 | Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting | Granada Hills, Los Angeles | 1999-08-10 | 1 | White supremacist opened fire with an Uzi at the North Valley Jewish Community Center, killing one and injuring four |
| 11 | Murder of Gwen Araujo | Newark | 2002-10-04 | 1 | Teenager beaten and murdered by four men with whom she had been sexually intimate after discovering she was transgender |
| 12 | Murder of Larry King | Oxnard | 2008-02-14 | 1 | 15-year-old student shot twice by fellow student, a gay-bias crime, later the subject of the HBO documentary Valentine Road |
| 13 | 2017 Fresno shootings | Fresno | 2017-04-13/18 | 4 | Shooting spree aimed at whites by alleged black supremacist |
| 14 | Killing of Anthony Avalos | Lancaster | 2018-06-21 | 1 | Mother and her boyfriend beat to death her 10-year-old son, allegedly due to belief that he was gay |
| 15 | Poway synagogue shooting | Poway | 2019-04-27 | 1 | Shooting at Chabad center during Passover holiday, three injured |
| 16 | Killing of Vicha Ratanapakdee | San Francisco | 2021-01-28 | 1 | 84-year-old Thai American killed by being pushed to the ground during wave of anti-Asian violence during COVID-19 pandemic |