Two more attacks have been linked to a series of five fatal shootings in Stockton, California, according to police.
The five shootings between July 8 and Sept. 27 have shaken the city as authorities continue the search for a person of interest in the attacks that police previously said may be “interconnected.”
The Stockton Police Department now says two additional shootings, including one in which the victim survived, are linked to the slayings.
In the first case, an unidentified 40-year-old Latino man was fatally shot just before 4:20 a.m. on April 10, 2021, in Oakland. Days later, a 46-year-old Black woman was shot at 3:20 a.m. on April 16 in the area of Park and Union streets in Stockton.
The woman survived her injuries, according to a statement posted on the department’s Facebook page Monday night. Her name was not released.
A $95,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest in the series of killings, all of which happened after dark and in areas with few security cameras, Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden said Friday.
An unidentified person recorded on grainy security video could be a suspect or a witness, police said, and other people may be involved in the attacks.
“We don’t know if there is one individual or if there is a series of individuals that are responsible — responsible for these homicides,” Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln told CNN on Tuesday. “These are by definition a series of killings in Stockton, California. We know it expanded outside the city and we’re taking it very seriously.”
Each of the attacks has involved a single victim.
“It wasn’t a robbery,” McFadden said. “Items aren’t being stolen. They’re not talking about any gang activity in the area or anything. It’s just element of surprise.”
The San Joaquin County medical examiner’s office on Monday identified the five victims of the July through September shootings as: Paul Alexander Yaw, 35, of Stockton, who died July 8; Salvador Debudey Jr., 43, of Stockton, who died Aug. 11; Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez, 21, of Stockton, who died Aug. 30; Juan Cruz, 52, of Stockton, who died Sept. 21; and Lawrence Lopez Sr., 54, of Stockton, who died Sept. 27.
Family members of Yaw and Lopez said that both men had fallen into homelessness.
Analydia Lopez, Debudey’s wife, said she was heartbroken by the loss of her husband of 12 years.
“To be honest with you, a part of me died with him that day,” Lopez said. “It’s been hard. It’s been really, really hard.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
