Two shootings, two stabbings — one fatal — as Stanislaus County rings in the new year
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story called the New Year’s Day stabbing investigation a homicide. But Turlock police have not determined conclusively that the death was homicide.
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day morning were marked with violence in Stanislaus County, including two shootings and two stabbings, one of which was fatal. If the fatal stabbing is determined to be homicide, it would be Stanislaus County’s first of 2023.
Little has been released about the Jan. 1 stabbing death, which was in a home on the 400 block of East Linwood Avenue. A Turlock Fire Department incident summary says law enforcement and medical responders were dispatched a little after 3:30 a.m. to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon.
Police officers secured the scene, the summary says, and an adult male was found on the ground, with a stab wound to his chest and not breathing. CPR and other lifesaving efforts were performed, but after 10 minutes with no change in the patient’s condition, the man was declared dead by American Medical Response ambulance personnel.
Shortly after 9 a.m., TPD spokesman Sgt. Michael Parmley said detectives still were on scene and he had no information he could provide.
Just after midnight in west Modesto, police and medical responders were dispatched to a report of a person struck in the face by a stray bullet. Officers secured the area around the 1300 block of Ricardo Way and then AMR crews attended to the patient. A Modesto police sergeant said the gunshot victim survived, but he did not have any additional information about the shooting, such as whether the shot was fired in celebration of the new year.
And in Ceres at about 10:10 p.m., a person suffering what initially called a gunshot wound to the face arrived at the Police Department. The incident summary said only that the shooting occurred elsewhere. The patient was in stable condition and taken to a local hospital.
Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Luke Schwartz said the shooting occurred on the 3200 block of Don Pedro Road, which is about 1.5 miles from the police station.
The gunman aimed at the female victim and fired, with the bullet striking the vehicle she was in and giving her a shrapnel wound to the face, Schwartz said.
The victim identified the suspect as a person known to her, the sergeant said, and that person remained at large Sunday morning.
Deputies responded to a “more severe” attack hours later — a stabbing call from Blue Gum and North Dakota avenues, Schwartz said. There, they located a man suffering stab wounds to his arm and chest.
Deputies determined the incident was a domestic-violence situation after the victim and his female partner had attended a New Year’s Eve party.
The victim is expected to survive, and the suspect was located near Woodland and Rosemore avenues, about two miles away. She was identified at Mary Rivera, age 34, Schwartz said. She faces charges including attempted murder. Rivera did not appear in the jail inmate custody log midmorning Sunday.
The fatal stabbing in Turlock came on the heels of a fatal shooting in the city early Saturday.
The man who died was a 20-year-old Tracy resident whose name was not disclosed, a news release from the Turlock Police Department said. No arrests have been reported in the shooting.
Officers were dispatched about 11:50 p.m. Friday to a reported vehicle sideshow at South Avenue and South Orange Street, the release said. Participants fled, and pursuits resulted in a two collisions, police said.
Just after 1 a.m. Saturday, a deputy aboard the Stanislaus County sheriff’s helicopter reported that participants were assembling for another sideshow at Fulkerth and Tegner roads, the release said.
Responding officers heard gunshots in the crowd and found two men who had been shot, police said. The Tracy man was declared dead at the scene. The other man was expected to survive.
Investigators believe the shootings resulted from an earlier conflict between sideshow participants, the release said.
Information on the fatal shooting can be directed to Detective Brandon Bertram at 209-664-7323. People with video of the sideshows or shootings can contact Detective Raul Garcia at 209-664-7314.
The public also can use the tipline, tpdtipline@turlock.ca.us, or reach Crime Stoppers at 209-521-4636. The program offers rewards to anonymous tipsters.
This story was originally published January 1, 2023 at 8:37 AM.
