Stockton police say reward will be paid after tips help with arrest in serial killings

By Lysée Mitri

Click here for updates on this story

    STOCKTON, California (KCRA) — Stockton police say there will be a payout of reward money after community tips helped lead to the arrest of the man accused in a string of deadly shootings.

Police arrested the suspected serial killer, 43-year-old Stockton resident Wesley Brownlee, on Saturday at 2 a.m. near Village Green Drive and Winslow Way in the city.

Brownlee could face charges for the murders of five men in Stockton this year and one in Oakland last year. In a seventh shooting, police said, a Stockton woman survived her injuries. Police said they linked the crimes through ballistics.

There was a $125,000 cash reward for tips leading to an arrest, and the Stockton Police Department said it got a large response from the community after opening a tip line a couple of weeks ago. They estimate they received an average of 100 tips a day.

They said they are still looking into whether the reward money would go to one or multiple people.

Community tips helped police zero in on a possible suspect. From there, they had a surveillance team watching him before determining that he was driving around early Saturday morning in the dark “on a mission to kill,” according to Stockton police.

“We are sure we stopped another killing,” said Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden in a news conference on Saturday.

Police said Brownlee had a gun in his waistband when they moved in to arrest him near Panella Park.

“Just the thought that that man was right here is just terrifying,” said Brenda Odom, who lives nearby.

She said she is thankful to hear he was arrested.

“Whoever the tipster was and the Stockton PD, I love them. They did it,” Odom said.

Still, she said she has not forgotten the victims and their families.

“I feel so bad for the families that lost their loved ones, and my heart just goes out to ’em,” Odom said.

The victims who were killed were identified by officials and family as:

35-year-old Paul Alexander Yaw 43-year-old Salvador William Debudey Jr. 21-year-old Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez 52-year-old Juan Cruz 52-year-old Lorenzo Lopez The victim in Oakland was a 40-year-old Hispanic man. Affiliate KTVU reported that the coroner identified the man as Juan Miguel Vasquez Serrano.

Brownlee is expected to be in court in San Joaquin County on Tuesday.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.