A series of stabbings in the California college town have left two people dead and one injured.
Police have detained a person in connection with a series of stabbings in a California college town that left two people dead and one injured, officials said Thursday.
The Davis Police Department announced that someone has been detained in connection with the fatal stabbings of a 50-year-old man and a 20-year-old University of California, Davis student. Another stabbing left a homeless woman in critical but stable condition, according to information previously provided by Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel.
Police said no further details will be released until later in the day “out of an abundance of respect” for the family of Karim Abou-Najm, the UC Davis student that was killed, who was being laid to rest Thursday.
It was not immediately clear whether the detained person is being considered a suspect. The Davis Police Department could not be reached for further comment on Thursday.
The first fatal stabbing was reported at around 11:20 a.m. on April 27, when officers responded to a request for a welfare check at the city’s Central Park. They found a homeless man, David Henry Breaux, hunched over a bench with “very significant” stab wounds, the police chief previously told reporters.
Two days later, on April 29, Abou-Najm died of injuries he sustained in a stabbing near Sycamore Park at around 9:14 p.m., Pytel said.
He added that the fatal stabbings “were particularly brutal and violent and both victims suffered many, significant wounds.”
The third stabbing occurred Monday at around 11:36 p.m. and involved a homeless woman who said she was stabbed several times through her tent, according to the police chief. She underwent surgery at the hospital and is currently in the intensive care unit in critical but stable condition, he said Wednesday.
The back-to-back stabbings prompted pleas from police that residents stay vigilant, and UC Davis officials moved to hold evening classes online rather than in-person. The school also added extra security at night, according to an announcement from Chancellor Gary May.
Both the victim in Monday’s slashing and a witness in the April 29 incident provided authorities with a description of the suspect.
Officials described the suspect in Monday’s incident as a man with curly hair and a thin build who was wearing a black or blue sweatshirt, black Adidas pants, black shoes and a brown bookbag.
Pytel told reporters that the two descriptions received were “substantially similar” to each another, but investigators were still trying to determine if all three involve the same perpetrator.
The police department said it has received hundreds of tips and is working with the FBI as well as other agencies.