He was found with a firearm and a mask around his neck, scouting for his next victim.
Residents of Stockton can breathe a little easier tonight with the arrest of Wesley Brownlee, 43, a truck driver. According to Stockton police chief Stanley McFadden, Brownlee was under surveillance on Oct. 15, and it was determined from his driving patterns that Brownlee was “on a mission to kill. “His patterns were consistent with some of the patterns that we had seen around parks, around dark places, stopping, looking around, moving again,” McFadden said.
The team intercepted Brownlee and he was found to be wearing dark clothing with a mask around his neck. He was also armed. Stockton had been haunted by the killing of five men. A sixth victim was shot in Oakland seventy miles away. Four of the victims were thought to be homeless. A seventh victim, Natasha LaTour survived the shooting.
The first of the shootings occurred in Alameda County, East Oakland on April 10, 2021 at 4:18 a.m. Juan Vasquez Serrano, 40 was the father of three daughters, the youngest age 10. He was from Jalisco, Mexico and had fallen on hard times which left him homeless. He survived on the streets by doing car repairs.
The second person shot six days later was LaTour, 46 who survived. She was in her tent on the corner of Park and Union streets in Stockton on April 16, 2021 when she heard footsteps and exited the tent. She was shot 9-10 times as a train roared by. A decades-long drug addiction had rendered her homeless at the time of the shooting.
As the summer or 2022 approached there were four more victims. On Jul 8, around 12:30 a.m. Browlee found Paul Yaw in the 5600 block Kermit Lane near Holiday Park. Yaw, 35, was the father of a young boy and was also homeless at the time of the shooting.
Salvador Debudey Jr, 43, was an aspiring musician. He went out to get food on Aug. 11. Officers found him just before 10:00 p.m in a Popeye’s parking lot. Debudey left behind a wife and child with his death.
At 21, Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez is the youngest victim. On Aug 30 he was found dead in his car, on East Hammer Lane and Tam O Shanter at the apartment complex where he lived.
Little is known of the sixth victim. Juan Cruz, 52 encountered Brownlee on Sept.21. He was shot shortly before 4:30 a.m
Lawrence Lopez Sr, 54 was fatally shot at 1:53 a.m., the morning of Sept. 27. He was a musician and the father of six children and three grandchildren.
Ballistic evidence linked the seven shootings to the same gun. Police are yet to discover the motive for the shootings. Brownlee did not take anything from the victims, all of whom were ambushed in dark, poorly lit, or isolated areas.
Brownlee was arraigned on Oct. 18 at 1:30 p.m.
