California serial killer is ‘on a mission’ but police are baffled as to what the mission is
A suspected California serial killer appears to be “on a mission” police have said, although they admit they are still baffled as to what that mission is.
The gunman has so far shot dead six men and wounded a woman in a 18-month killing spree in the Stockton and Oakland areas.
There is a $125,000 (£109,000) reward for information leading to an arrest.
The victims appear to have little in common, no particular ethnic group seems to have been targeted and while some were homeless, others were not. None were beaten or robbed and they don’t appear to have known each other.
“We don’t know what the motive is. What we do believe is that it’s mission-oriented,” Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden said Tuesday. “This person’s on a mission.”
The first victim was 39-year-old Juan Vasquez Serrano, who was shot multiple times in Oakland in April last year.
Days later the woman was shot and although wounded managed to scare off the attacker by walking towards him.
She described him as wearing a dark-coloured hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up, dark-coloured pants and an all-black COVID-style face mask.
Paul Yaw was the first of the Stockton victims to die Pic: Greta Bogrow
The killer than appears to have laid low for for more than a year before switching his attention to the Stockton area, around 70 miles from Oakland.
On 8 July this year Paul Yaw, 35, was shot dead, followed by Salvador Debudey Jr., 43, on 11 August; Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez, 21, on 30 August; Juan Cruz, 52, who died on 21 September.
The most recent victim was Lorenzo Lopez Sr., 54, who was shot dead on 27 September.
He “was just a person who was out here at the wrong place, at the wrong time, at the wrong circumstance,” his brother, Jerry Lopez, told local television station KXTV-TV. “It’s hard to process that this has happened.”
Lorenzo Lopez, the most recent victim, died on 27 September Pic: Jerry Lopez Family
Stockton Police said four of the victims were walking alone while the fifth was sitting in his car.
It is believed the same gun was used for both the Oakland and Stockton shootings.
Police admit they have little to go on apart from some indistinct CCTV footage.
“To be honest, we just don’t know,” Stockton Police Officer Joseph Silva said. “This person or people who are out doing this, they are definitely very bold and brazen.”
Police officers found a handgun, a silencer and a red notebook described as a “manifesto” when they arrested Luigi Mangione.
The 27-year-old was arrested in December 2024 and charged with killing UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson in New York City.
Mangione‘s lawyers want to block prosecutors from showing or telling jurors at his eventual trial in Manhattan about statements he allegedly made and items they said police seized from his backpack during his arrest at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.
The objects include a 9mm handgun prosecutors say matches the one used in the killing, a silencer, a magazine with bullets wrapped in underwear and a notebook in which they say Mangione described his intent to “wack” a healthcare executive.
Mangione with his attorney. Pic: Reuters
The defence contends the items should be excluded because police did not get a warrant before searching Mangione’s backpack.
Prosecutors deny claims Mangione was illegally searched and questioned.
They also want to suppress some statements he made to police, such as allegedly giving a false name, because officers asked him questions before telling him he had a right to remain silent.
Last week, Mangione watched surveillance videos of the killing of Mr Thompson, 50, as he walked to a New York City hotel for his company’s annual investor conference.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges.
The state charges carry the possibility of life in prison, while federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
This week’s hearing concerns only the state case, but Mangione’s lawyers want to bar evidence from both cases.
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In September, a judge dismissed two terrorism counts against Mangione, finding prosecutors had not presented enough evidence Mangione intended to intimidate health insurance workers or influence government policy.
Trial dates are yet to be set in either the state or federal cases.
Paramount has launched a £108.4bn hostile bid for Warner Bros, challenging Netflix, which had reached a $72bn takeover deal with the company.
Paramount said on Monday that it was going straight to Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) shareholders with a $30 per share in cash offer for the entirety of the company, including its Global Networks segment, asking them to reject the deal with Netflix.
On Friday Netflix struck a deal to buy WBD, the Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter” and HBO Max
The agreement means Warner Bros Discovery’s library of film and TV successes including Harry Potter and Game Of Thrones will come under the same roof as Stranger Things and Squid Game.
The cash and stock deal is valued at $27.75 per Warner share, giving it a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including debt.
But Paramount says its deal will pay $30 cash per share, representing $18 billion more in cash than its rivals are offering.
In a statement, Paramount said it was making a “strategically and financially compelling offer to WBD shareholders” and a “superior alternative to the Netflix transaction”.
File pic: iStock
David Ellison, chairman and CEO of Paramount, said: “WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company.
“Our public offer, which is on the same terms we provided to the Warner Bros. Discovery Board of Directors in private, provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion.
“We believe the WBD Board of Directors is pursuing an inferior proposal which exposes shareholders to a mix of cash and stock, an uncertain future trading value of the Global Networks linear cable business and a challenging regulatory approval process.
“We are taking our offer directly to shareholders to give them the opportunity to act in their own best interests and maximize the value of their shares.”
Paramount said it had submitted six proposals to WBD in the course of 12 weeks, but that they were never “meaningfully” engaged with.
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