STOCKTON — Days after a 43-year-old Stockton man was arrested in reference to a six allegedly related homicides in Stockton and Oakland, prosecutors have charged him with three of the killings,
Wesley Brownlee, a Bay Space native and Stockton resident, was charged Tuesday with murdering Juan Cruz, Jonathan Rodriguez Hernandez, and Lorenzo Lopez, who’s recognized in courtroom data as Lawrence Lopez. Prosecutors haven’t stated why Brownlee has solely been charged with half the killings that police publicly linked him to over the weekend.
Brownlee is due in courtroom Tuesday afternoon for an arraignment earlier than San Joaquin Superior Courtroom Decide Ronald Northup, courtroom data present. Brownlee can be charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Authorities stated through the investigation that 5 2022 homicides and Stockton and one in Oakland, in 2021, appeared to have the identical factual patterns and that the identical gun was utilized in all six. A seventh Stockton taking pictures in April 2021, the place a 46-year-old girl was wounded however survived, was additionally related, authorities stated.
Police identified that almost all of the victims have been of Latino descent, suggesting a racist motive, however haven’t publicly acknowledged what they consider motivated Brownlee to kill. They allege that Brownlee would drive round early within the morning “looking” for victims. He was arrested throughout a 2 a.m. visitors cease in Stockton with a masks and a gun, within the automotive, police stated.
Courtroom data present Brownlee grew up in an Oakland condo a brief distance from the place police declare he fatally shot Juan Vasquez Serrano, 40, on April 10, 2021. He was additionally arrested within the neighborhood thrice over 20 years for promoting crack cocaine. In the identical neighborhood, in 1995, Brownlee’s brother and household buddy have been killed six months aside in what police referred to as “drug associated” homicides.
Stockton and Oakland authorities have recognized the Stockton victims as: Paul Yaw, 35, killed July 8, 2022 in Stockton; Salvador Debudey Jr., 43, killed Aug. 11, 2022 in Stockton; Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez, 21, killed Aug. 30, 2022 in Stockton; Juan Cruz, 52, killed Sept. 21, 2022 in Stockton; and Lawrence Lopez Sr., 54, killed Sept. 27, 2022 in Stockton.
