Samuel Ejaz booking photo
SALINAS — Superior Court Judge Julie Culver sentenced 51-year-old Garden Grove resident Samuel Ejaz to two consecutive terms of life without the possibility of parole. She also sentenced him to four additional life terms for the August 17, 2015, attempted murder of his estranged wife and the killing of her aunt and uncle.
Ejaz, a naturalized citizen from Pakistan, devised a plan to kill his wife after she planned to enlist in the United States Navy to get away from him after an ongoing marital dispute. According to her, the dispute grew from his attempt to control every aspect of her life — including where she worked and even how she greeted him when he came home from work.
At one point, she even sought refuge at a women’s shelter. When she returned home, he made threats that he was going to buy a gun and kill her. So, she left and enlisted in to the Navy.
Apparently, that was the last straw. He purchased a 9mm handgun and stalked her as she went through boot camp and training, even going as far as trying to reach her via her aunt and uncle. He then learned through the Navy that she was scheduled to go on furlough and figured she planned on visiting them.
The night before he planned to carry out his murder plot, he checked into a motel two blocks away from her aunt and uncle’s home and began amateur surveillance, taking pictures of the home and the vehicles parked there.
The next morning, he waited from a distance until all four got into a vehicle and left for an appointment. He followed them to the Social Security Office in Salinas and into the parking lot and blocked them from leaving.
He pointed the gun at his estranged wife, who had gotten out to try and reason with him. When she realized that he was well past reasoning she attempted to run. He fired two shots at her, with one hitting her in the back. As she laid on the ground he turned his attention to the car and saw her aunt getting out of the car to help her. He fired three shots at her, killing her instantly. He then walked over to the vehicle and shot the uncle as he sat in the car.
After killing both, he walked over to his estranged wife and began to talk with her. That is when a Good Samaritan who witnessed the shooting convinced him to put down the gun and the extra magazine he was carrying.
In a statement to police he told them, “He killed the aunt and uncle and tried to kill the cousin because they helped his wife get away from him.”
