Attack in Auburn raise concerns of library safety year after slaying in Natomas

It happened, in an instant, in a place known to all as tranquil and quiet.

A witness to Tuesday’s knife attack at an Auburn library described how a man, identified by Auburn police as 33-year-old Opada Joseph Opada, suddenly wrapped his arms around a patron before stabbing him multiple times. As the assailant ran away, he assaulted another patron in the head with the knife and slashed a third who tried to stop his escape.

The attack put a community on edge one day short of the one-year anniversary of a similarly jarring attack outside a library in North Natomas, renewing calls for increased safety measures in facilities frequented by senior citizens, families and children.

“The nature of libraries and they being so open for everyone that makes them a little more vulnerable to people who may be violent prone,” said Kelly Clark, the husband of Amber Clark, who was shot and killed at point-blank range as she sat in her car. “And the need to be open poses a difficult problem. Open spaces in general are not as safe, whether it’s a movie theater, a school, a place of worship, or a library.

“We are all vulnerable, but libraries especially because they are very open ... staff are not behind bulletproof glass.”

In Auburn, the assault happened in less than a minute, Lonnie Brewer told local media outlets. He said he was sitting right next to the first victim when the attack happened.

“Very very weird. I was in shock when it happened. I didn’t really expect it to happen,” Brewer told CBS 13.

He described to Fox40 how the attacker, whom he saw the day before in the library, stabbed the first victim before trying to escape just before 2 p.m.

“He stabbed him in the neck. He stabbed him in the stomach and then he ran out,” Brewer told Fox40. “Then as he’s running out, there’s a guy on the computer and then he hit him in the head like this. And then he ran out the door and started running.”

Brewer told Fox40 that he believed the man was homeless and told CBS 13 “I seen a knife in his hand but I thought it was fake.”

Police described the first victim’s injuries as “significant.”

After a nine-hour manhunt in Auburn, which included locking down a nearby middle school and shutting adjacent county government buildings, police arrested a man fitting the description of the attacker at 10:40 p.m., less than two miles from the library, which remained closed on Wednesday.

Opada, who was charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of assault with a deadly weapon, is being held without bail. A motive for the assaults is not yet known. Auburn police, who did not return repeated calls for information Wednesday, told the Auburn Journal that they believed the attack was random.

Hours later, meanwhile, crowds gathered in North Natomas on Wednesday night to honor Clark. The Sacramento Public Library named a teen space for Amber Clark and a candlelight vigil was held.

Her alleged killer, Ronald Seay, faces a count of first-degree murder and an allegation of lying in wait in the Dec. 11, 2018, slaying, but a Sacramento Superior Court judge in September halted the case to allow doctors to determine whether Seay, 56, is mentally fit to stand trial. Doctors on Dec. 19 are expected to present their reports to Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley.

‘Changing our own behavior’

Rivkah Sass, director and CEO for the Sacramento Public Library, said the system has made improvements to security but is pushing for more.

“We are on the front lines, but we’re not first responders,” she said. “... Because we are open, we are the first ones to deal with certain behaviors.”

Most public library locations have security guards who do frequent patrols and work with law enforcement, Sass said. There is also an instant messaging system, called Spark, that allows library workers throughout the system to immediately reach out for help to other branches when they encounter a problem.

“I believe it really is about paying attention, being vigilant and making sure that we train people as completely as we can,” Sass said. “... It’s training yourself to be aware and be responsive. I really feel strongly that part of this is us changing our own behavior.”

All library workers participate in “diligent observer” training, to teach library workers to constantly “observe, orient, decide and act” to mitigate potential escalating situations, Sass said.

“Sometimes things are a simple misunderstanding,” Sass said, and to that end a customer care team was developed so “there’s somebody to listen.”

Many of the system’s 28 locations already have secure work spaces that can only be accessed by key card, giving library workers a place to go that is separated from the public, Sass said, but not all.

Library administrators are currently working to get a secure access door installed at the library in Del Paso Heights, which Sass said is “vulnerable” and needs a secure spot for workers to go.

While locations do maintain video surveillance systems, Sass said they do not keep metal detectors at any location and its unlikely they will for fear it will deter people and interfere with their mission to be “the heart of the community.”

“We really take trying to keep staff safe seriously, but first and foremost we are a library,” Sass said. “I would much rather help a 3-year-old become a reader ... We have to balance what we are able to do in terms of safety and security with what our mission is.”

A pattern of behavior

Seay had been arrested multiple times for causing disturbances in libraries and was barred from at least two branches in the St. Louis area where he lived before moving to Sacramento just months before Clark’s fatal shooting. He was later barred from Sacramento Public Library branches for aggressive and disruptive behavior before Clark was killed.

”We’re still awaiting the final reports. We’ve been informed that we should have them by the 19th, but that’s all we’ve been informed at the moment,” Seay’s defense counsel, Sacramento County Supervising Public Defender Norm Dawson, said on Wednesday.

Attorneys that day could ask for more time to review the doctors’ findings or accept them as presented. Dawson said. ”We’re in a holding pattern,” Dawson said, but if Seay is found competent, the case could soon head to a preliminary hearing. The hearing will determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to proceed to trial.

Sacramento County District Attorney’s prosecutors at the September hearing said they would not seek the death penalty in the ambush killing.

This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 6:46 PM.