Man accused of choking girlfriend and later stabbing man in Sacramento before Highway 50 pursuit
Authorities on Thursday morning arrested a man suspected of assaulting his girlfriend, stabbing a man in a random attack in Sacramento and leading officers in a pursuit on Highway 50 before a standoff with the California Highway Patrol in Yolo County.
The assault occurred Wednesday night at the suspect’s home not far from where the stabbing occurred later, at a 76 gas station at the corner of Fair Oaks Boulevard and Watt Avenue, said Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.
Gandhi said deputies responded to the reported assault and learned the suspect, a 34-year-old man, had choked his girlfriend multiple times in a domestic violence incident before he drove away in his vehicle. Gandhi said the girlfriend would survive her injuries.
Early Thursday morning shortly after midnight, a suspect rammed his vehicle into another man’s vehicle in the parking lot of the 76 gas station in Arden Arcade. The sheriff’s spokesman said the suspect then got out of his vehicle, reached into the victim’s vehicle and stabbed that man several times.
The suspect then drove away in his vehicle. Gandhi said the stabbing victim suffered wounds to his face and stomach, but he was taken to a hospital and expected to survive his injuries.
Deputies learned that the stabbing suspect and the victim at the gas station did not know each other. Gandhi said the two men did not exchange any words before the stabbing, which is believed to have been “just a random attack.” He said investigators at the time did not know the assault suspect and the stabbing suspect were the same man.
The Sheriff’s Office shared information about the gas station stabbing and the suspect with other law enforcement agencies in the area.
Officers from the Fairfield Police Department spotted the suspect’s vehicle, after which the man led police and CHP officers on a pursuit.
It ended near Jefferson Boulevard in West Sacramento when the suspect crashed his car and climbed onto an overpass, sheriff’s officials said. The suspect threatened by suicide before the CHP’s negotiators convinced him to surrender peacefully.
The suspect was booked into jail after being treated at a hospital. The 34-year-old man faces two felony charges related to assault, injuring a spouse or a cohabitant and threatening to commit a crime resulting in death or great bodily injury, according to the jail log.
He also faces a misdemeanor charge of resisting or obstructing peace officers. The man is beind held in lieu of $150,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.
This story was originally published August 15, 2024 at 11:35 AM.
