Suspected Stockton serial killer arrested, was on a ‘mission to kill’
• A suspected California serial killer arrested while out ‘hunting for new victims’ police says.
By Onome Naomi
A suspected serial killer armed with a chilling kill kit has been caught “out hunting for his next victim”, police have said. Wesley Brownlee, 43, of Stockton, California was allegedly nabbed wearing dark clothing and armed with a handgun after an outpouring of tips from the public.
Police arrested Brownlee after he was observed driving around “stopping, looking around and moving again”, according to Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden.
Mr McFadden said: “He was on a mission to kill. He was out hunting. We are sure we stopped another killing.”
Brownlee is suspected of killing six men and injuring a woman in a spate of shootings, the first of which took place in April 2021. The most recent took place last month, according to officials.
All of the victims were shot and were alone in the evening or early morning hours, police said. While searching for the gunman police released a surveillance video of the suspect.
Chief McFadden noted that the person’s posture in the video was “extremely upright and it’s noticeable”. A reward for information leading to the arrest grew to $125,000.
Due to the suspect’s unusual gait, police were exploring the possibility that the Stockton killer was the same person as the “duck walk” killer who gunned down two people in Chicago in 2018.
However, Chicago police have since said that they do not believe there is a connection between the two cases.
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Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln said hundreds of tips from the public had poured in, assisting police in their efforts.
He said: “I want to make this very very clear, to the people of Stockton, to the United States and around the world, when the people of Stockton come together and we unite we can get things done.
“Stockton will be a place where people can live, raise a family and grow a business.”
The investigation is said to involve multiple law enforcement agencies including Stockton Police, the FBI, U.S. Marshals and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Chief McFadden stressed that the investigation was still “very active”. He said: “Just because an arrest was made, does not mean the investigation stops.”
Brownlee will be held in jail without bail and will be arraigned by the court on Tuesday, according to San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar.
Ballistic evidence connected the cases which led to alarm over a “serial killer”, Chief McFadden said earlier this month. Most of the victims were men and Hispanic, according to the police chief.
The first of the seven shootings is believed to have occurred in April, 2021 in Oakland, California – 70 miles from Stockton. A 40-year-old Hispanic man was killed.
Later the same month, a 46-year-old Black woman was shot in Stockton but survived her injuries. She is the only victim to have survived her injuries.
The rest of the shootings occurred this year between July and September, according to police. Four of those killed were Hispanic men aged 21 to 54 years old and one White man aged 35.
The victims killed this year were identified by San Joaquin County’s medical examiner as: Paul Yaw, 35, killed on July 8; Salvador Debudey Jr., 43, killed on August 11; Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez, 21, killed on August 30; Juan Cruz, 52, killed on September 21; and Lawrence Lopez Sr., 54, killed on September 27.
All of the shootings took place in dark areas with minimal CCTV coverage.
