The Stockton serial killer suspect has been charged with three murders utilizing a “ghost gun” after being caught allegedly “looking” his subsequent sufferer within the California metropolis.
Wesley Brownlee, 43, was arrested after a surveillance staff stopped him within the early hours of Saturday morning as police declare he was targetting one other sufferer.
He was charged with three counts of homicide on Tuesday, and the district lawyer Tori Verber Salazar mentioned she expects so as to add expenses in two different murders in Stockton, in addition to one tried homicide.
Investigators imagine {that a} serial killer is chargeable for six killings between April 2021 and 27 September 2022.
A killing in Oakland has been linked to the case, however the Alameda County District Lawyer’s Workplace has not confirmed if expenses can be introduced in opposition to the suspect there.
Mr Brownlee, a truck driver who had just lately moved from Oakland to Stockton, can be accused of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
A public defender representing the suspect requested that he’s additional arraigned on 14 November throughout his first courtroom look on Tuesday.
Mr Brownlee, who reportedly remained unemotional throughout his look, was ordered to be held with out bail.
“There are some people who find themselves simply just too harmful to share the streets with you and I,” Ms Salazar mentioned at a press convention after Mr Brownlee’s arraignment.
Brownlee grew up in Oakland and reportedly has a felony historical past that features visitors violations and convictions for drug crimes in Alameda County that goes again to an arrest when he was 15 years previous.
Joe Biden demonstrates how simply ghost weapons may be constructed
Prosecutors say that the gun used within the killings was a “ghost gun” that may be 3D printed and not using a serial quantity and circumvents the conventional authorized background checks.
“We will show with excessive confidence the identical gun was used within the three homicides we’re charging you with at the moment,” added Ms Salazar.
“We imagine now we have the particular person accountable. I’m very, very constructive within the close to future you’ll be listening to extra expenses as properly.”
In April, Joe Biden introduced that the Justice Division would crack down on ghost weapons.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
