California: Suspected Serial Killer Arrested 1:53
(CNN) --
The San Joaquin County, California district attorney's office has filed formal charges against Wesley Brownlee in a series of recent homicides in Stockton.
Brownlee, 43, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Jonathan Rodriguez Hernandez, Juan Carlos Carranza-Cruz and Lawrence Lopez.
Brownlee also faces charges of carrying weapons and ammunition.
He was not asked to plead guilty.
Brownlee was taken into custody Saturday, authorities say, in connection with seven California shootings that Stockton police believe are connected by ballistics evidence: the homicides of five men in Stockton and one in Oakland, and the shooting of a woman. in Stockton, from April 2021 to the end of last month.
Suspect in string of California slayings was 'hunting' when arrested, police say
Brownlee was on the hunt for someone else to hurt when he was taken into custody in Stockton around 2 a.m. Saturday, dressed in dark clothing with a mask around his neck and armed with a gun, the chief of police said Saturday. Stockton Police Stanley McFadden
"He was on a killing mission. He was hunting," McFadden said Saturday.
"We are confident that we prevented another homicide."
Working from tips from the public, a surveillance team followed Brownlee as she drove through parks and dark places, "stopping, looking around and moving again," McFadden said.
The team observed his movements and took him into custody after "identifying that he posed a threat," the chief said.
Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden speaks during a press conference Saturday on the arrest of suspect Wesley Brownlee in a series of deadly shootings in Stockton, California.
Credit: Clifford Otto/AP
The only surviving victim told police the attacker did not speak.
Stockton police announced earlier this month that they believed the five homicides that occurred in the city between July 8 and September 27 were related.
A couple of days later, they announced that they believed two shootings from 2021 were also linked to the other five: the homicide of a 40-year-old Hispanic man in Oakland on April 10, 2021;
and the injury of a 46-year-old black woman in Stockton six days later.
Investigators have ballistic evidence connecting the six homicides and one attempted homicide, McFadden said earlier this month.
All the victims were alone and were assaulted at dusk or early in the morning, according to police.
Authorities are still investigating the motive for the shooting.
The victims included people with various living situations, according to McFadden.
Among the victims of this year's homicides, four were Hispanic men between the ages of 21 and 54, and the fifth was a 35-year-old white man, according to police.
The victims of this year's homicides were identified by the San Joaquin County Medical Examiner as: Paul Yaw, 35, who died July 8;
Salvador Debudey Jr., 43, who died on August 11;
Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez, 21, who died on August 30;
Juan Cruz, 52 years old, who died on September 21;
and Lawrence Lopez Sr., 54, who died on September 27.
In an interview with police, the woman who was shot in April 2021 said she heard someone walking through her camp and walked out to find her attacker pointing a gun at her.
The person fired multiple shots, wounding her, as she tried to defend herself against it, McFadden said during a news conference last week.
Stockton Police shared this image of a firearm while announcing the arrest of Wesley Brownlee.
Credit: Stockton Police Department
The woman told police that her attacker said nothing and was wearing dark clothing and a "Covid-style" dark mask, according to the police chief.
All seven shootings occurred in dark areas where there were not many cameras.
The victims were "alone, often surprised by guards, or perhaps resting in a vehicle or walking alone in almost total darkness," McFadden told CNN's Kasie Hunt earlier this month.
The reward for information leading to the arrest increased to $125,000 this week.
According to Stockton Mayor Kevin J. Lincoln, hundreds of tips were received from the public.
Stockton is a city of about 322,000 people located about 70 kilometers southeast of Sacramento.
-- Andy Rose, Christina Maxouris, Holly Yan and Augie Martin contributed reporting.
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