A Chinese car thief strangled a two-year-old toddler to death after stealing a vehicle with the infant inside, police said, provoking outrage across the country Wednesday. The boy was in an SUV stolen by Zhou Xijun, 48, in northeastern Jilin province on Monday, triggering a hunt involving thousands of police officers and taxi drivers until he handed himself in the following day and confessed, reports said.

A gunman killed three people in California Tuesday, including at least one execution-style, in a series of carjackings before taking his own life, police said. At least two other people were injured as the gunman fired randomly on other vehicles while driving a stolen car on the freeway, before he shot and killed himself in the city of Orange, south of Los Angeles. The first killing appeared to be a woman found dead in her home in Ladera Ranch, after neighbors reported hearing gunfire in the early hours. The suspect, a man in his 20s, then fled in an SUV.