Written by AARON CASTREJON | CityWatch Editor POMONA - Detectives are piecing together the motive behind a brutal stabbing that left a university public safety specialist dead and the suspect shot and killed by police.
The 37-year-old parking officer at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona was found dead by a fellow employee on campus-owned property, identified as Campus South, around 4:30 p.m. Friday. The victim was still in his university-provided truck, according to Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau. The suspect is possibly a custodian at Cal Poly Pomona. The victim is not a sworn officer of the campus, but helps provide safety and other duties around Cal Poly. Coroner officials are still on scene investigating. Neither the victim’s, nor the suspect’s names are available, according to Lt. David Smith of the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner. Campus South sits on property formerly known as the Lanterman Developmental Center, 3530 Pomona Blvd., a 300-acre property that houses a hospital, institutional housing, homes and agricultural land. The area, which closed in 2015, is a spot for moving filing and other productions, according to the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation. “We’re being told that. Some people said they recognize him as a custodian working here on campus, so we’re trying to confirm that,” Corina said. The suspect was possibly wearing a custodian uniform when found. He was also driving a truck, but it was not known if it was a university-owned vehicle. Cal Poly is currently in summer session and with the killing taking place on a Friday, very few students were on campus, said Cal Poly Pomona spokesman Tim Lynch. Witnesses helped authorities to locate the suspect about a half mile from the scene of the stabbing, near the John T. Lyle Center For Regenerative Studies. One of the witnesses who apparently knew the suspect told detectives that he appeared “out of it,” Corina said and that the suspect fought with the witness when approached. A Pomona Police officer and a Cal Poly Police officer both opened fire on the suspect, but the interaction that led to the officer-involved shooting remains undisclosed. The knife thought to be used in the stabbing was recovered near the victim’s truck. The scene of the stabbing was very brutal, Corina explained, with blood found all over inside the truck. The suspect may have cut himself during the stabbing. “This is an anomaly, a very tragic day for the university. In my knowledge nothing like this has ever happened at the university,” Lynch said. |
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