Woman Arriving for Work Wounded; Ex-Boyfriend Held

FOUNTAIN VALLEY — A Price Costco employee was shot in the stomach and critically wounded Monday by her boyfriend, who was waiting for her in the store’s parking lot, police said.

Michael Thomas Cobb, 28, of Lake Forest walked into the Fountain Valley police station shortly after 4 a.m. and told officers he had just shot his girlfriend, Lt. Bob Mosley said. Police found Mary Peralta, 32, of Villa Park slumped in her car in the parking lot at 17900 Newhope St.

Investigators said witnesses told them that Cobb had been waiting for Peralta to arrive for her 4 a.m. shift. When she got out of her car, he approached her with a gun tucked beneath a newspaper and, without saying a word, shot her, Mosley said, citing accounts from witnesses and Cobb.

Other employees arriving for the shift told police Peralta then stumbled to her car as Cobb tossed the handgun down and drove off, Mosley said. Minutes later, Cobb surrendered to a dispatcher at the police station.

Cobb was booked into the Huntington Beach City Jail on suspicion of murder pending an arraignment today. Peralta, who underwent surgery for a wound to her liver, was in critical but stable condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

The couple broke up about three months ago, police said, and relations had been tense following disputes over money and Peralta’s new boyfriend. Cobb told police he slashed his former girlfriend’s car tires last month, and he sent her a cryptic note stating that she was “going to pay,” Mosley said.