Suspect in Connection to Serial Killer Crimes Arrested in California, Stockton Police Say
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California’s Central Valley was left unnerved after five people were killed in Stockton, California. The victims were men between the ages of 21 and 54, five of those men were Hispanic and one was white. A 46-year-old Black woman was also shot in Stockton on April 16 but survived the attack. Some of the victims were unhoused.
Stockton police say they have made an arrest in connection to six murders in California. On Saturday, Stockton police chief Stanley McFadden, city manager Harry Black and Mayor Kevin Lincoln announced in a joint press conference that they had arrested 43-year-old Wesley Brownlee at around 2 a.m. on Saturday morning.
"Our surveillance team followed this person while he was driving. We watched his patterns and determined early this morning he was on a mission to kill. He was out hunting," McFadden said.
Homicide Series Update: Wesley Brownlee, 43, was arrested this morning in Stockton in connection to our homicide series investigation. During a press conference, Chief McFadden said Wesley was out hunting and we prevented another killing from happening. pic.twitter.com/u0KfKmbhXZ
— Stockton Police Dept (@StocktonPolice) October 15, 2022
Beginning in April of last year, victims were attacked either late at night or early in the morning in dimly-lit areas while they were alone. A year after the first fatal shooting in Oakland, five more killings occurred in Stockton between July 8 and September 27. The killings occurred in a radius of just a few square miles, police said.
Serial killers are identified as such by the Federal Bureau of Investigation if they fall under one of two categories: they either kill based on their victims’ common characteristic(s), or---such is the case of the killer in Stockton---they stalk a specific location.
Homicide Series Update: Today Chief McFadden released a video of the "Person of Interest" in regards to this series. If you have any info, please call 209-937-8167. There is a $125,000 reward for info that leads to an arrest. pic.twitter.com/QLhcobVFJZ
— Stockton Police Dept (@StocktonPolice) October 5, 2022
"What we seem to have in common is probably complexion -- it has been folks that are different races, but they have a similar complexion," McFadden said. "The location, the environments have been consistent: It's very dark locations, it's locations where there's not very many witnesses around."
"This is a person that lurks in the shadows," the chief added. "Our victims are being caught by surprise." Earlier this month, authorities said they believed the California serial killer was “on a mission.”
McFadden said Brownlee was wearing dark clothing, had a mask around his neck, and was armed with a firearm at the time of his arrest. The only survivor of the serial killer suspect said her attempted murderer had on black clothes and a black face mask and said nothing when he shot her multiple times.
