California police detain person in connection to stabbings

DAVIS, Calif. (AP) — Northern California authorities said they have detained a person in connection with two fatal stabbings and a third stabbing in a university town and will provide more details at a press conference Thursday afternoon.

This is the first time the Davis Police Department has said the three stabbings that occurred over a week period and terrified the community are linked. The announcement said the person was detained in connection with the two homicides and the attempted homicide.

NBC affiliate KCRA-TV in Sacramento, California, reported it captured aerial footage of police Wednesday afternoon speaking with a person near a downtown park where the second victim, a 20-year-old student at the University of California, Davis, was killed.

Officers were then seen placing the person in the back of a patrol car.

Davis is a small city about 70 miles (112 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco and 15 miles (24 kilometers) west of Sacramento. There are roughly 67,000 residents in the city in addition to more than 13,000 students who live on the UC Davis campus.

Davis police did not return phone calls and emails seeking more information.

The first death was reported Thursday when officers found David Henry Breaux, 50, in downtown’s Central Park, hunched over a bench where he often sat or slept.

The second victim, Karim Abou Najm, was found Saturday night at Sycamore Park with multiple stab wounds.

A homeless woman who is in her 60s was the victim of Monday’s stabbing.