Police in California have arrested a suspected serial killer, claiming they are certain that they stopped another person being killed by bringing him in.
So far, six people have died and police believe that 43-year-old Wesley Brownlee was out on his way to kill someone at the time when he was brought into custody.
Brownlee was under the watchful eyes of a police surveillance team when he was arrested, with Stockton police chief Stanley McFadden stating that the team decided at around 2:00am that Brownlee was ‘out hunting’ and ‘on a mission to kill’.
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Those are some seriously strong words, but McFadden backed them up by saying: “His patterns were consistent with some of the patterns that we have seen,
“[He was] around parks, around dark places, stopping, looking around, moving again.
“And at that point, we thought, for the safety of the public, it was best to take this person in.”
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At the time of his arrest, Brownlee was dressed all in black, had a firearm on his person, and was wearing a mask around his neck.
Chillingly, the police chief said: “We are sure we stopped another killing.”
McFadden went on to state that the suspect – who, let’s not forget, hasn’t been convicted of anything yet – has a criminal past, although he didn’t know the specifics of what he’d done or what agencies he is known to.
He also refused to be drawn on a motive for the six killings that have occurred so far.
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In recent times, Stockton police have said that they believe that five murders that took place between July 8 and September 27 are linked.
All five murders took place in the evening or early morning time, with four of the victims of Hispanic heritage and one white man.
All the suspects are between 21 and 54 years old.
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They also believe that two further shootings could be related, including one fatal shooting of a 40-year-old Hispanic man and a 46-year-old black woman, though she survived the attack.
It was announced last week that a reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect had been raised to $115,000.
In the end, tip-offs from the public played a role in arresting Brownlee, it was confirmed at a police news conference.
The mayor of Stockton, Kevin J. Lincoln, said: “To the community, thank you for everything that you’ve done. Thank you for stepping up, thank you for exercising your voice, thank you for submitting the hundreds of tips that have come in on a daily basis,”
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“This could not have been done, and today would not have been possible without you.”
District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar said that her team are reviewing what evidence they’ve got ‘as we speak’ with charges yet to be determined.
Brownlee remains in jail without bail, with an arraignment set for Tuesday afternoon, the DA confirmed.
After that, another news conference will take place at which charges are expected to be announced.
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Tom Wood