3 dead, 9 injured after man stabbed and beat victim in California ‘crime spree’, police say
Three people were killed and nine others injured when a man randomly stabbed and struck victims with a vehicle in the San Jose area, officials said.
Kevin Parkourana, 31, of San Jose, is being held in connection with Thursday’s attacks, police in San Jose and the adjacent city of Milpitas said Friday.
“We ended the crime spree,” Milpitas Police Chief Jared Hernandez said at a news conference on Friday. “We were able to effectively prevent other people from being injured.”
Parkourana was charged on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and auto theft in connection with the violence in both cities, San Jose Police Chief Anthony Mata said at the news conference.
The attacks were “indiscriminate acts of violence, there were no targeted attacks on individuals,” Mata said.
No formal charges were filed and the region’s public defender did not comment.
The killing spree began just after 3 p.m. Thursday in San Jose when the suspect stabbed a victim and stole a Honda Odyssey minivan a few blocks from his own home, Deputy Local Superintendent Steve Lagorio said.
The victim was stabilized in a hospital, he said.
About 20 minutes later, the suspect abandoned the minivan and took another vehicle, a Honda Pilot SUV, by stabbing a motorist in a San Jose parking lot, Lagorio said. The suspect then hit a pedestrian while driving, he said.
Both victims were hospitalized and stabilized by medical staff, Lagorio said.
Around 4 p.m., the suspect allegedly used the pilot to attack a vehicle in downtown San Jose, he said. The man then stabbed the motorist inside, Lagorio said.
The victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries, he said.
Minutes later, the suspect, still behind the wheel of the SUV, “deliberately” hit three people near an intersection in San Jose, Lagorio said. Two of the three died at the scene of the accident, he said.
A short time later, the suspect hit a person on a scooter in San Jose, he said.
The driver and the third pedestrian who was hit suffered no life-threatening injuries, police said.
At around 4:32 p.m., a stabbing broke out in the parking lot of a Smart & Final store in adjacent Milpitas, and the SUV was found abandoned nearby, police said.
The victim was pronounced dead at a hospital, Milpitas boss Hernandez said at the press conference.
City officials turned their attention to the nearby Milpitas High School graduation ceremony and, as a precaution, flooded the area with police forces, Hernandez said.
Sniffer dogs raised the possibility that the suspect was in the area, and at 6:15 p.m. Parkourana exited a parked car less than a quarter mile from the Smart & Final and surrendered without incident, Hernandez said.
The Santa Clara County coroner has not released the names of the deceased victims.
The motive is investigated.
Mata, the San Jose chief, said Parkourana is on probation.
Santa Clara County court records show the suspect has been convicted of felonies and misdemeanors since 2018 and has been paroled. A court filing describes that one of the offenses that resulted in a conviction was domestic violence.
In several cases, the suspect was ordered to appear before the mental health court, the filing shows. One active case is a request to revoke his joint post-release supervision, a program that transfers inmates from state custody to local supervision.
A spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said the facility would not comment while the San Jose and Milpitas cases are under investigation.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said at Friday’s news conference that the enforcement and judicial systems needed to be strengthened.
“When we’re dealing with individuals who are multiple-convicted repeat offenders, our city, county and state needs to do a better job of holding people accountable for getting the care they need, or getting them from ours.” remove the road,” he said.
