Some incidents of violence by and to people with serious mental illness in San Diego
that might have been prevented had Laura’s Law been implemented.
10/2011 San Diego
On October 7, 2011, 51-year-old Lorenza Delgadillo Penguelly stabbed her 86-year-old mother Elvira Delgadillo, eight times in the face in what family members said was an unprovoked attack. A family member said Penguelly had medication for schizophrenia but didn’t always take it. Sometimes she would walk away from treatment programs and even disappear for months at a time. Her illness had become more pronounced in recent months, family members said. Family members said Delgadillo had tried for decades to get help for her daughter. On September 19, 1986, Penguelly drowned her 5-month-old daughter, Sharai, by throwing her into San Diego Bay. The 26-year-old Penguelly had gone to the Grape Street Pier earlier and tried to give the baby to at least one stranger. The girl’s floating body was found the next day but her identity wasn’t then known. Penguelly was arrested a month later in Santa Monica after she attacked her uncle, who kept asking her where her daughter was. She then admitted what she had done to Sharai and was returned to San Diego to face a possible life sentence. She pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, was sentenced to six years in prison and sent to Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County for psychiatric treatment. Source: Sign On San Diego, 10/18/11; 10 News, 1/19/12
12/2011 San Diego, CA
On December 14, 2011, 23-year-old Tiffany Burney fatally shot her great aunt, 74-year-old Daisy Mae Hayes. Burney had a history of psychiatric problems. Burney, a transient, was arrested on December 17 at the Alvarado Parkway Institute Behavioral Health System in La Mesa when she made a 911 call from the facility. Burney, who multiple hospitalizations for paranoia, had been placed under a conservatorship in December 2011, after authorities argued that she could not properly care for herself outside a hospital setting, that she lacked insight into her illness and that she may stop taking her psychotropic medication if released. The conservatorship ended in September 2011 when she was released from a facility and began attending outpatient treatment programs. Source: Sign On San Diego, 12/21/11
7/2011 San Diego, CA
On July 25, 2011, 24-year-old Brian Williams fatally stabbed his 52-year-old mother, Donna Williams, and 18-year-old sister, Breanna “Bree” Williams. Police said Brian Williams suffers from mental illness. They had been called to the home a month before because of problems he was causing. Sources said Donna had threatened to kick her son out of the house because he wasn’t taking his medications for schizophrenia. Source: CBS San Diego, 7/19/11; 10News.com, 7/20/11, 9/16/11; Sign On San Diego, 7/26/11, 10/5/11
10/2010 Carlsbad, San Diego, CA
On October 9, 2010, 41-year-old Brendan Liam O’Rourke went on a shooting spree at Kelly Elementary School that left two girls wounded. O’Rourke arrived with matches, a can of gasoline, several barrels for quick reloading of his six-chamber .357 Magnum revolver, and extra bullets. He climbed the school’s fence and fired at two second-grade girls, shooting each through her right arm. As O’Rourke moved into the school, he shot at three boys. Brendan O’Rourke’s neighbors said he was an angry, “creepy” loner whose loud tirades of racial slurs and other obscenites drove them to call police on occasion. O’Rourke would quiet down, but he never let officers inside. Spray-painted on a bedroom wall was “Destroy”. Carlsbad police said other spray-painted “nonsensical writings” suggested he was angry with “State Farm and AIG.” Several psychiatrists testified that O’Rourke was suffering from either schizophrenia or a delusion disorder, or both, at the time of the crime. On April 20, 2012, O’Rourke was sentenced to 189 years to life in prison. Source: North County Times, 10/9/10, 10/13/10, 2/21/12; 10News.com (San Diego), 10/10/10; 10 News, 3/6/12; The Coast News, 3/20/12; U-T San Diego, 4/20/12
7/2011 San Diego, CA
On July 18, 2011, 24-year-old Brian Rockwell Williams fatally stabbed his mother, 52-year-old Donna Williams and his 18-year-old sister Briana Williams. Neighbors were awakened by the sounds of a woman screaming. They looked outside to see Briana Williams struggling with her brother on the balcony of their home. After hanging by her hands, Brianna eventually dropped to the pavement below. Both women were pronounced dead at the scene. Brian Williams’ had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but was not undergoing treatment at the time of the murders. Source: 10News.com, 7/20/11; Sacramento Bee, 5/8/12
1/2009 San Diego, CA
On January 18, 2009, 44-year-old Dennis Brian Gluck killed his parents, 90-year-old Harry Gluck and 77-year-old Jean Gluck, with a machete. Dennis’ brother who called police saying he hadn’t heard from anyone at the home for several days, informed them that Dennis suffered from bipolar disorder. Dennis had pleaded guilty in 2000 to a felony for wielding a machete in a threatening manner with an added hate-crime allegation. He was given probation. That probation was revoked temporarily in 2001 after he didn’t take his psychiatric medication. On June 24, 2009, a judge ruled that Dennis Gluck was not mentally competent to stand trial. Gluck was ordered to a state hospital for up to three years. Source: San Diego Union Tribune, 3/3/09, 6/25/09; North County Times, 11/3/11
10/2004 San Diego, CA
On October 24, 2004, Michael L. Reid broke into the San Diego, CA home of 53-year-old Rebecca Brown and fatally stabbed her 10 times. Neighbors said that noises awoke them minutes before the stabbing and that they saw a large man on a bicycle acting erratically in the street. Two neighbors said Reid was talking to himself and gesturing wildly and one neighbor said he saw a large knife in Reid’s hands. A San Diego Superior Court jury acquitted Michael Leonard Reid by reason of insanity. Reid was schizophrenic and suffered from delusions. He believed at the time of the murder that Brown, an acquaintance, had stolen the spirit of his mother and had hired someone to kill his brother. Reid had visions of his deceased father summoning him through a fence on the property. The vision convinced Reid he was doing the right thing. Source: San Diego Union-Tribune, February 25, 2005, December 22, 2006-
2/2004 Carlsbad, San Diego, CA
Thomas Earl Johnson, 56, was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison for murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon in the fatal stabbing of his elderly father on February 16, 2004 in the family home in Carlsbad, CA. His mother and 5-year-old great nephew were also severely injured during the attack. His great-nephew, Corey Lucas, was stabbed in the throat, and his jaw was fractured. Johnson was diagnosed with schizophrenia more than 10 years ago. Source: San Diego Union Tribune, 6/11/04, 12/7/05, & 12/8/05; North County Times, 6/6/04; North County Times, 7/8/04; San Diego Union Tribune, 11/23/05, 1/24/05, & 11/30/05; North County Times, 11/16/05, 11/17/05, & 11/22/05; KGTV-TV, 11/14/05; Associated Press,
6/2004 San Diego, CA
On June 26, 2004, Julianne Cummings, a woman with mental illness, led police on a 30-minute chase along Interstate 8 in San Diego, CA. The chase ended when Cummings plowed into the back of a Chevrolet Cavalier and pushed it off the freeway, killing Tonie Autrey, 18, and injuring Lawrence and Rebecca Dobbs and their son, Lawrence Dobbs Jr. On June 16, 2005, Superior Court Judge Allan J. Preckel sentenced Cummings to five years probation and ordered her to undergo psychiatric treatment. By placing Cummings on probation, Preckel said he could guarantee that she would get supervised psychiatric care for five years. Two forensic psychologists testified that Cummings suffered from a “severe” case of bipolar disorder and likely had no idea what she was doing. Cummings was confined to mental health centers several times but had been functioning with medication until she lost her job and no longer had health insurance to pay for therapy. Source: San Diego Union Tribune, September 30, 2004; KGTV-TV ABC 10 San Diego, June 30, 2004; Salinas Californian, May 4, 2005; San Diego Union-Tribune, June 16, 2005
8/2003 Carlsbad
James Bryant Essick, a 49-year-old man with schizophrenia, beat his 77-year-old mother to death with a statue in her Carlsbad, CA home on August 14, 2003. Essick, who had come to live with Betty Dodge four months earlier because he was no longer able to take care of himself, turned himself in to the Carlsbad Police later that day. Essick, a paranoid schizophrenic, was in a psychotic break with reality when he killed his mother. Essick mistakenly thought his mother was going to commit him to a mental institution. Essick had been hospitalized four times before, including once in June 2003, when he spent six days at a hospital and said he believed he was a messenger from God, Cotsirilos said. Source: North County Times, June 15, 2005; San Diego Union, Tribune, June 15, 2005; North County Times, July 6, 2005; San Diego Union Tribune, July 6, 2005; Salinas Californian, July 8, 2005; San Diego Union-Tribune, July 16, 2005
3/2005 Mira Mesa
On March 20, 2005, Michael Monroe Brown, 48, bludgeoned his mother, stepfather, brother and the family dog to death with an aluminum bat in their home in Mira Mesa. After the attacks, Brown called 911, identified himself, and said he had just killed his relatives. Court records show that in 1985, his mother, Shizuko Taeko Beck, went with a friend to a psychologist for help in dealing with her son’s delusions and violent mood swings. Deputy Public Defender Richard Gates argued that Michael Monroe Brown, 50, is schizophrenic and was suffering from a psychotic delusion when he killed his family in their Mira Mesa home. Brown believed God told him to kill his family so he would be sent to prison where he would save mankind. Source: San Diego Union Tribune, 6/22/05, 11/8/05, 2/26/07, 3/27/07, 3/29/07; KFMB-TV, 11/8/05
11/2005 San Diego
On November 30, 2005, Penny Powell’s body was discovered in the Broadway apartment she shared with Lanika Phillips and another woman. Phillips, 25, was charged with murder and the use of a knife in connection with Powell’s death. Senior Probation Officer Christopher Thomas testified that Phillips had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and that county Mental Health officials deemed her “potentially dangerous.” Source: North County Times, 5/12/06; San Diego Union Tribune, 10/9/07
11/2005 San Diego, CA
Amara Taylor, 28, pleaded guilty last month to assault with a deadly weapon in connection with stabbing her boyfriend in the neck during a confrontation in a Rolando area home. San Diego police Detective Steven Epperson said he had information that the defendant suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disease. The detective said Taylor, in a rambling statement, inferred that Ferris was “Godzilla” and that he killed Jesus Christ. Ferris testified that Taylor was “always talking nonsense,” and that most days are hard for her because of her mental illness. Source: San Diego Union Tribune, April 20, 2006
10/2006 Vista, San Diego,
On October 5, 2006, Kristen Kaye Lawson, the wife of an Escondido pastor, tried to drown her two daughters. Lawson, who had ignored her mother’s plea to take her depression medication, placed her 6-year-old daughter in nearly 8 inches of water. Twice she held the child’s head under the surface before the girl struggled free. The 31-year-old mother told her daughter it was a swimming lesson. The girl suggested that her 5-month-old baby sister should skip the class. But then Lawson tried to drown the infant. She placed her under the water. “My beautiful baby. I can’t do this,” Lawson thought when the child’s eyes rolled back into her head, according to court records. Finally, Lawson called 911. Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein sentenced Lawson to five years’ probation and ordered her to continue treatment for depression and bipolar disorder following Lawson’s January 30 guilty plea to child abuse charges. Goldstein warned Lawson he would not hesitate to lock her up if she skipped treatment. Lawson fought an ongoing battle with depression, combined with postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter. Her illness left Lawson feeling like an inadequate mother, wife and friend, she told court officials. During her sentencing, a tearful Lawson apologized to her family and friends and vowed to continue therapy for her mental health issues, first diagnosed in 1999. Source: Union Tribune, 4/10/07
1/2006 San Diego, CA
On January 23, 2006, Eustracio Nacilla Jr., a Filipino immigrant and pizza delivery driver, fatally stabbed J. Terry Miller with a 6-inch kitchen knife. In 2004, Nacilla was taken into custody by deputies after he threatened to commit suicide and harm his family, and later was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Nacilla was prescribed anti-psychotic medication, but never took it. Nacilla’s family members “locked their doors every night because they were afraid of what he would do,”. “No one wanted to talk about his mental illness.” Source: San Diego Union Tribune, 5/22/07, 6/1/07, 7/13/07
10/2005 Encinitas
On October 15, 2005, Brandon Taylor Lee allegedly murdered Robert Duane Mason, his former landlord, who was found dead in his Encinitas home. Mason was stabbed 35 times and slashed 16 times, according to the doctor who performed the autopsy. Judge Kerry Wells ruled that Brandon Taylor Lee, 25, was incompetent to stand trial. Wells said that the mental state of Lee has regressed to the point that he needs to go to Patton State Hospital for a second time. Prior History: Brandon Taylor Lee was treated at Patton hospital for schizophrenia and psychosis and returned to San Diego County to face criminal proceedings in 2006. Since then, Lee’s Defense lawyer Sloan Ostbye said Lee has stopped taking his medication and became less willing to meet with her. She said she had not been able to speak with him for several months. Source: North County Times, 6/7/07
8/2007 San Diego, CA
On August 25, 2007, 35-year-old Alan Kosakoff led police on a high-speed chase when officers tried to stop him for a traffic violation. The 15-minute pursuit ended when he pulled into his mother’s garage and tried to close the door behind him. Police caught the garage door in time, and an officer approached the car to arrest Kosakoff. As the officer opened the car door, Kosakoff put the car into reverse and tried to run over two other officers, who both opened fire. Kosakoff’s father said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder and wasn’t taking his medication at the time. He remained in critical condition after the incident and died later. In May 2012, San Diego settled a wrongful death suit filed by Kosakoff’s family agreeing to pay more than $162,000 to the family. Source: San Diego Union Tribune, 8/26/07, 9/1/07; CBS8.com, 5/10/12
1/2008 San Diego, CA
On January 2, 2008, Joshua Robert Schwartz, 20, stabbed a 60-year-old barber as the barber was closing his shop in Otay Mesa West. Schwartz told police he stabbed the barber because the man had given him a bad haircut two years before, and because Schwartz thought the barber had placed a curse on him. Superior Court Judge Howard H. Shore ordered Joshua Robert Schwartz to be sent to Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino for no more than three years. Loretta Schwartz said recently that she called police the day before the stabbing to try to get help for her son, who suffers from chronic schizophrenia. Source: San Diego Union Tribune, 1/31/08
2/2007 San Diego, CA
On February 4, 2007, Jared Jacobson attacked Caroline and Donald Stewart with a knife. Both of the victims survived the attack. Jacobson came up behind the couple while they were walking and stabbed them, then sat on the curb and watched them bleed. After his arrest, Jacobson told police, “it’s so easy to shank people,” “that was (expletive) fun” and “it went in like butter.” Jacobson, who is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenic, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Jacobson, first saw a psychiatrist when he was 14 1/2 and later traveled from Hawaii to New York to attempt suicide by jumping off a bridge. On January 31, 2007, Jacobson had left a group mental health session because he thought people were talking about him and later tried to commit suicide again. A week before Jacobson stabbed the Stewarts, he was taken to County Mental Health with slash marks on his arm, and the next day a psychiatrist diagnosed him as a chronic paranoid schizophrenic. Jacobson went back to County Mental Health for three days, and his psychiatrist tried to get him committed because he knew was going to do something violent. He was released February 2, two days before the attack on the Stewarts Source: SanDiego6.com, 9/18/08; San Diego Union Tribune, 11/4/08
4/2009 San Diego, CA
On April 30, 2009, 37-year-old Eric Russell Andreasen fatally stabbed 54-year-old Katherine Parker in a mall parking lot. Andreasen, who has a history of mental illness, pleaded guilty to multiple crimes between 1999 and 2003. In 2004, while awaiting trial for a North County theft attempt, doctors deemed him mentally incompetent to stand trial. At that time, he was committed to Patton State Hospital. Source: NBC San Diego, 4/7/09; 10News.com, 5/5/09, 3/21/11; SignOnSanDiego.com, 3/28/11
4/2010 San Diego, CA
On April 26, 2010, 55-year-old Bradford Sarten was shot during a confrontation with police and died at the hospital. Family members said Bradford Sarten, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, grabbed a knife, got into a confrontation with police in his mother’s North Park home and was fatally shot. Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune, 4/26/10; San Diego 6,7/27/10
5/2010 San Diego, CA
On May 20, 2010, 31-year-old Nathan Manning was fatally shot by police after an altercation with his roommate. Manning’s brother said he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 17 and had stopped taking his medications. Source: 10News.com, 5/20/10; Sign on San Diego.com, 5/22/10; San Diego Reader, 11/23/10
12/2007 San Diego, CA
On December 31, 2007, Cory Byron, a drunken-driving suspect, led police on a chase from Oceanside to the San Diego-Coronado Bridge. Stryker, an Oceanside police dog, was dispatched to subdue Byron. After a struggle, Byron and Stryker went over the railing and plunged into the bay. Byron survived with a collapsed lung and other injuries. In 2003, he was hospitalized at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside for a “bipolar manic episode,” In 2005, when he was living with his sister, Cory was again hospitalized for the same problem. Source: San Diego Union Tribune, 1/14/08, 9/11/08, 9/14/08; North County Times, 2/18/09
2/2006 Escondido
Michael Wellman, 35, was fatally shot outside a house in Escondido, CA with his 4-month-old baby strapped to his chest after a standoff with police in February 2006. Wellman had thrown a homemade Molotov cocktail at police and was believed to be a danger to the baby.” It had been about a month since Wellman took medicine prescribed to him for schizophrenia. Source: North County Times, February 11 & 17, 2006
4/1998 Oceanside, San Diego, CA
Kenneth Putt, 64, a retired Navy chaplain, was killed by two officers who had been sent to his home April 18, 1998 to investigate a domestic violence report. Putt was outside his home holding a rifle when officers Kevin Blagg and David Larson arrived. The officers told Putt to put down the firearm, but he raised it and pointed it directly at them. Blagg fired one shot from a 12-gauge shotgun. Larson fired two shots from a 9 mm handgun. Police had been sent to Putt’s home twice in recent years, and authorities said the man suffered from mental illness and had threatened several times to kill himself. Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune, April 21, 1998, p. B4
11/1997 San Diego, CA
Chessmur Nicolo Cucchiara was a homeless alcoholic with a history of mental problems. At 2:30 a.m. on November 25, 1997, he was sleeping in some bushes being searched by San Diego police. He was shot to death after cursing and throwing bottles at the officers who aroused him. Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune, February 8, 1998, p. G3
4/2001 San Diego, CA
Gabindo Benjamin Flores was shot to death by San Diego police on April 28, 2001 while wielding a pair of scissors. Flores’ son reportedly telephoned police for help at the family home the day of the shooting, Police said Flores resisted a Taser and blows from a baton, fought off a police dog and struck an officer with a pair of scissors, before officers opened fire, killing Flores. Flores had been suffering from schizophrenia and dementia. He had been hospitalized for two weeks, then was released two days before the shooting. He was frail and dehydrated, and had not been taking his medication. Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune, May 5, 2001
2/2007 Escondido
On February 18, 2007, Henry Kodimer, a mentally ill man, dived off a top bunk in a Vista jail cell, breaking his neck and leaving him quadriplegic. Two days before he leapt from the bed, officers had taken Kodimer into custody at his mother’s home, after his bizarre behavior led her to call police. Kodimer was off his medication at the time, and was naked in the backyard of the home when police arrived. Subsequent History: In November 2007, Henry Kodimer, through his mother, sued San Diego County, the city of Escondido and three police officers, alleging that negligence by the police and staffers at the Vista jail led to the inciden. The lawsuit contends authorities should have steered him toward treatment, not jail. Source: North County Times, 4/21/08
5/2008 San Diego, CA
On May 30, 2008, James Culley, 23, was fatally shot by police after he pointed a gun at an officer walking behind him. His mother, Daviann Giovannucci, described her son as a desperate and suicidal man who suffered from bipolar disease. “With no health insurance, he could not access any sort of help,” said Giovannucci. Source: San Diego Union Tribune, 6/5/08
4/2005 La Jolla, San Diego, CA
Robert Jefferson Nelson, 32, a man with bipolar disorder and a history of suicidal gestures was struck and killed by a car in La Jolla, CA on April 21, 2005. Nelson had been lying in the middle of the road at 2:00 a.m. when Omega Temesgen, 23, hit him. One of Nelson’s co-workers told police that Nelson had been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder. Nelson left work abruptly without saying anything around 3 p.m. April 19, leaving his backpack behind. He went to his girlfriend’s house around 9 p.m. that night and was behaving erratically, pacing the floor, moving things around, refusing to sleep and covering up the burners on a stove to prevent a fire. Nelson did not have his medication with him. Source: San Diego Union Tribune, June 4, 2005; San Diego Union Tribune, June 28, 2005
5/2005 Escondido, Nazario J. Solorio, a 38-year-old man with a serious mental illness, died after police used a Taser stun gun to subdue him during an altercation at his mother’s home in Escondido, CA. Family members said Solorio suffered from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, was unemployed because of his mental disability and was staying with his mother. Solorio, who was not taking his medication, started becoming disruptive and his mother called police to take him to the hospital. Source: North County Times (CA), June 7, 2005; KNSD-TV, June 7, 2005; North County Times, August 26, 2005; San Diego Union-Tribune, August 27, 2005
8/2008 San Diego, CA
On August 10, 2008, Daniel Peter Cruz beat fellow resident 59-year-old John Roberts to death in the victim’s bed using salt and pepper shakers. On October 13, 2009, Judge John Thompson ruled that the defense had proven that Cruz was schizophrenic at the time of the killing and still suffers from the mental disorder. According to a doctor’s report, Cruz was delusional and taking commands from a deceased little girl – Danielle Van Dam – when he attacked Roberts at the New Beginnings Room and Board. Danielle Van Dam was 7- years-old when she was kidnapped and murdered by David Westerfield in 2002 in a widely publicized case. Cruz had no real connection to that murder. Source: SDNN.com, 10/13/09
5/2009 Fallbrook, San Diego, CA
On May 23, 2009, Oceanside Police Capt. Reginald Grigsby shot and wounded his mentally ill adult son to protect himself and his wife in their home. The captain’s son, former San Diego State football player Reginald Grigsby Jr., beat and choked his mother into unconsciousness in an unprovoked attack. His father tried but was unable to pull his 25-year-old son off the 53-year-old woman. The officer grabbed his gun and shot his son in the upper torso. The younger man, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 17 and reportedly has attacked family members twice before. Grigsby Jr. was not taking psychiatric medication at the time of the attack. Grigsby Jr. punched his father in 2004, and grabbed his sister by the neck and slammed her into a door in 2008. After both instances, police took him to Palomar Medical Center for psychiatric evaluation. Source: North County Times, 11/18/09
5/2010 San Diego, CA
On May 20, 2010, 31-year-old Nathan Manning was fatally shot by police after a plainclothes San Diego police detective responded to a fight between Manning and his roommate. Police say that Manning started pushing the detective when he intervened. Manny took away the detective’s baton and the two began to struggle. When the detective broke free, he drew his gun and fatally shot Manning. Manning’s brother said he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 17 and had stopped taking his medications. Source: 10News.com, 5/20/10; SignonSanDiego.com, 5/22/10; San Diego Reader, 11/23/10
9/2008 San Diego, CA
On September 24, 2008, 21-year-old Ian Suazo fatally stabbed his roommate, 39-year-old Ocie Raines. Suazo had been distraught and told his father that he was hearing voices in his head and was feeling suicidal. He was taken to a psychiatric center for an evaluation. After killing Raines, Suazo cut his own wrists and jumped in front of a moving car before he was arrested. Source: 10News.com, 1/13/09, 3/24/10; Sign On San Diego, 10/21/11
4/2010 San Diego, CA
On April 26, 2010, 55-year-old Bradford Sarten grabbed a knife, got into a confrontation with police in his mother’s North Park home and was fatally shot. . Family members said Bradford suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. Donald Sarten, 83, said his son was diagnosed with mental illness in the early 1980s and had been committed numerous times. He said his daughter, Cynthia Abel, came to San Diego over the weekend at her mother’s request to try to get Bradford Sarten recommitted after his mental state deteriorated. Donald Sarten said his son would hear voices in his head and would react angrily by throwing things. San Diego police Lt. Kevin Rooney said officers were called to the home by family members to evaluate the man’s mental health. Bradford Sarten was outside the home when police arrived but quickly went in a side door. Police entered the home and saw Bradford Sarten inside the kitchen. They ordered him to come out to the living room and show his hands. He came out carrying a knife, which he refused to drop. When he advanced toward the officers with the knife, he was shot. Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune, 4/26/10; San Diego 6,7/27/10
12/2002 San Diego, CA
David John Weiner, 49, a homeless man who assaulted two senior citizens in separate incidents on the beach in Carlsbad, was sentenced to probation and released to a board-and-care facility for treatment of his mental illness. Defense attorney Angela Bartosik told Judge William Mudd that her client suffered from “profound” mental health issues. Mudd gave the defendant credit for 247 days in jail and suspended an eight-year prison sentence. “You’re getting one chance … don’t blow it,” Mudd told the defendant, adding that Weiner had one chance to take his medications and be law-abiding. Source: City News Service, July 14, 2003
11/2002 San Diego, CA
Diana Napolis, a mentally ill La Mesa, CA, woman who admitted threatening actress and singer Jennifer Love Hewitt, pleaded guilty to stalking and could have been sent to prison but will instead have to comply with several conditions to remain free. Napolis — who accused Love Hewitt of trying to kill her through mind control — must take her psychiatric drugs, stay away from computers and guns and seek court permission before traveling, a judge ordered. Napolis threatened in e-mails to kill Love Hewitt, and made similar threats against Spielberg, also made accusations on the Internet against people who opposed theories of satanic ritual abuse of children. Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune, November 6, 2003
4/1998 Oceanside, San Diego, CA
Kenneth Putt, 64, a retired Navy chaplain, was killed by two officers who had been sent to his home April 18, 1998 to investigate a domestic violence report. Putt was outside his home holding a rifle when officers Kevin Blagg and David Larson arrived. The officers told Putt to put down the firearm, but he raised it and pointed it directly at them. Blagg fired one shot from a 12-gauge shotgun. Larson fired two shots from a 9 mm handgun. Police had been sent to Putt’s home twice in recent years, and authorities said the man suffered from mental illness and had threatened several times to kill himself. Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune, April 21, 1998, p. B4
2/2002 Chula Vista, San Diego, CA
Eric John Martin, a 34-year-old homeless man with a history of mental illness, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison in the death of an elderly woman he punched in the face. Martin has been described as suffering from schizophrenia by a defense psychiatrist and from a personality disorder by a prosecution expert. Source: San Diego Union Tribune, October 3, 2002 San Diego Union Tribune, October 14, 2002 Copley News Service, February 11, 2003
5/2001 San Diego, CA
David McAllister, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, fatally beat his elderly grandmother while she was trying to get him committed to a psychiatric hospital. McAllister and his father lived in his grandmother’s San Diego home. Moments before a neighbor called police to the home, a judge across town signed an order committing McAllister to a mental hospital. McAllister’s illness caused him to believe an airplane had landed on top of his grandmother’s house. He removed the hands from all the clocks in the house and turned a computer monitor upside down to see it better. When police arrived at the scene, McAllister was half-naked and ranting that insects and other creatures in his body could not get out unless he took his pants off. In the past, McAllister was committed several times, sometimes voluntarily. “Each time, he was turned back out,” said his defense lawyer, who said mental health officials failed McAllister. Source: San Diego Union Tribune, October 25, 2002
5/2002 La Mesa, San Diego, CA
Dorthea Howser, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the random stabbing of a boy waiting to go home after school in La Mesa, California. Howser, who has a history of mental illness, was sentenced to seven years in state prison. Howser was diagnosed with bipolar disease at the time, according to a sentencing report by a probation officer. She had been on her way to an appointment with a psychiatrist – carrying her health insurance identification card in her hand – when she inexplicably came up behind the boy and attacked him. Source: Copley News Service, January 8, 2003
1/1998 Escondido, San Diego, CA
In May 2002, Richard Raymond Tuite was arrested and charged in the January 20, 1998 stabbing death of 12-year-old Stephanie Crowe in her home. Tuite was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. Tuite’s family said they tried to get him help, and had taken him to the hospital “many, many, many times.” But since his stays were voluntary, he would leave once his family was gone. His mother said that her son would take his medicine until he felt better and then stop. In June 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court set a September 24 conference date to consider California’s appeal of the reversal of Tuite’s conviction by a lower court. Tuite remained in state prison pending outcome of the prosecution’s appeal. He was sentenced in 2004 to 13 years; with another four years tacked on because he escaped from the county courthouse during jury selection. Source: San Diego Union-Tribune, 1/22/00; Copley News Service, 2/4 & 2/11/03; San Diego Union-Tribune, 2/8, 7/17, 8/7 2003; 2/11/04 City News Service, 7/16, 9/23/03; 8/25&8/31/04; AP, 2/3/04; San Diego Union-Tribune, 3/2/04, 3/11/04
3/2002 San Diego, CA
San Diego Police Officer Bruce Debord responded to a call March 12, 2002 about a naked man committing a lewd act in public. When James Olson, a 44-year-old homeless man suffering from schizophrenia, attempted to walk away, the 10-year police veteran used pepper spray and a carotid restraint hold on the suspect. During the struggle, Olson grabbed a six-pound rock and advanced toward two witnesses. After Olson refused orders to “drop the rock” and “stop,” Debord fired three times, killing Olson. Source: Los Angeles Times, July 2, 2002
4/2000 Lakeside, San Diego, CA
Armando Emmanuel Cruz, 20, was sentenced to life in prison for slitting the throat of a California Highway Patrolman in April, 1998. Patrol Officer Jeffrey Alvarez pulled a motorist over in Lakeside for a routine traffic stop. As Alvarez wrote the ticket Cruz, then 17, ran out of his apartment in his underwear, grabbed the officer from behind, slit his throat with a knife, then ran off. Cruz readily admitted he attacked Alvarez. He gave little reason for the attack, saying he was depressed because he had not been able to talk to people very well and was “fed up.” Cruz began seeing mental health professionals at age 14, and was initially diagnosed with depression and substance abuse. Cruz later suffered a mental break in 1998, was hospitalized and diagnosed with schizophrenia form disorder. He was hearing voices and experiencing hallucinations and paranoid delusions,. In late 1999, Cruz was diagnosed with “schizophrenia, paranoid type.” However, his treatment was intermittent and not always effective, according to his mother. When he was sent to Juvenile Hall in April 2000 after the assault on Alvarez, Cruz was put on a new medication regime. Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune, February 6, 2002 Copley News Service, February 20, 2003 The San Diego Union-Tribune, February 20, 2003
5/2005
Escondido, San Diego, CA
Police said 23-year-old Martin Edward Jauregui, a man with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia who was on probation for threatening to bomb the NBC station in San Diego, called 911 after taking two residents hostage at a board and care facility for the mentally ill in Escondido, CA on May 12, 2005. Crying on his cell phone and talking about the recent arrival of Lucifer, Jauregui said that he was distraught about family matters and had been mistreated by law enforcement in the past. Jauregui also said he had a bomb and plastic explosive strapped to his chest, a 9 mm handgun and a knife. Police evacuated about 50 people at the facility, called in their SWAT team and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad, and shut down several major streets. Jauregui’s arraignment continued to be delayed because he was not mentally capable of appearing in court. Prior History: Jauregui was convicted in December 2004 of threatening to set off a bomb at the television studio of NBC Channel 7/39 in downtown San Diego. A psychologist who evaluated Jauregui found him to be dangerous and recommended residential treatment. He had moved into the residential-care facility in February 2005 as a condition of his probation. In April 2005, Jauregui’s cousin won a temporary restraining order that barred Jauregui from coming near her or her two small children. The woman sought the order two days after Jauregui came to her home and allegedly threatened to set the home on fire. Jauregui had been in and out of mental health facilities, and the county took conservatorship of Jauregui at least three times. Each time, the conservatorship was to last one year. But the first two times the county took over his conservatorship, his grandmother stepped in and took over. His third conservatorship —- during which he was to have been placed in a locked facility —- lasted a year, ending in November 2001, according to court files. Source: North County Times, May 13, 2005; San Diego Union Tribune, May 13, 2005; North County Times, May 16, 2005/ May 19, 2005
1/2007 Chula Vista, San Diego, CA
On January 12, 2007, 27-year-old Kaijamar “Kai” Dion Carpenter fatally stabbed his 54-year-old mother Diane Carpenter in her home. He had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had been recently released from Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino. She said Carpenter was confined to the state hospital after being found mentally incompetent to stand trial in an unrelated misdemeanor case. Kaijamar’s father said that his son had recently completed a 90-day stay at Patton hospital. He said the family had pleaded with authorities for years to have him committed to a long-term care facility to no avail. Kaijamar had at least two other run-ins with law enforcement in 2000 and 2004. In the first incident he was charged with drawing a knife, battery on an officer and resisting arrest. He pleaded guilty to resisting an officer and was sentenced to community service. In the second incident he pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace and was fined after authorities said he pulled a gun out in front of an officer and resisted arrest. On October 31, 2008, 29-year-old Kaijamar Carpenter was committed to a state mental hospital for killing his mother in 2007. Source: Fox6, San Diego, 1/12/2007; North County Times, 1/13/2007; San Diego Union Tribune, 1/17/2007, 5/13/07, 11/1/08, 12/7/08; NBCSanDiego.com, 5/10/07
11/2001 Vista, San Diego, CA
Steven Rebolloso, 21, had pleaded guilty to shooting a police officer, carjacking and a special allegation of using a gun. While jailed on the carjacking charge on Nov. 11, 2001, Rebolloso was taken from the Vista Jail to the hospital for X-rays. He began to fight with deputies. The defendant grabbed one deputy’s gun and shot the other in the leg before being subdued. Magdalena Figueroa told Vista Superior Court Judge Richard E. Mills that her son was schizophrenic, a condition authorities ignored until it was too late. “Steve did not do this because he’s a monster or a killer,” Figueroa said. The defendant was not receiving his medication in jail before the shooting. Source: City News Service, June 30, 2003
6/2003 Encanto, San Diego, CA
Kevin Gerard Williams, was charged with murder after running over and killing San Diego motorcycle officer Terry Bennett on June 26, 2003 in Encanto, CA. On October 1, 2003, he was found mentally incompetent to stand trial and sent to a state mental hospital. Prior History: Court records show he had been institutionalized at least twice, the first time at age 13, when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, psychosis and mild mental retardation. In March 2003, Williams was taken to the emergency unit when he went to the North Gate at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station and told guards he was hearing voices, had aliens inside him and could “smell evil and electricity.” He was released after less than a day. On June 21, five days before he ran down Bennett, Williams was arrested at Lindbergh Field after trying to walk past the ticket counter security area and board a flight without a ticket. When arrested, he told police he was God and said, “Let me on the street and I’m going to kill people”. He was taken to the county emergency psychiatric unit and held overnight, but released the next morning. Source: Copley News Service, 6/28/03; San Diego Union-Tribune, 9/12/03 & 10/1/03; City News Service, 9/11/03 & 10/1/03; City News Service, 6/30,10/25,10/28/04; San Diego Union-Tribune, 8/8, 9/27/04; San Diego Union Tribune, 2/9/05; KTLA-TV, 3/15/05
8/2003 San Diego, CA
Carl Thompson, 38, was charged with attempted murder on a peace officer after stabbing a San Diego police officer in the chest with a six-inch kitchen knife during a traffic stop on August 13, 2003. Thompson tried to leave the scene, but 30-year-old officer Jonathan Deguzman chased him down and shot him in the buttocks when Thompson refused to drop the knife. Thompson’s sister said he has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and that he had exchanged gunfire with San Diego police in 1989. Source: Copley News Service, August 15, 2003 City News Service, November 7, 2003 San Diego Union-Tribune, November 21, 2003
10/2003 El Cajon, San Diego, CA
A 16-year-old girl from El Cajon, CA stabbed her brother to death in the family home. The teenager’s family said the girl was defending her life while being attacked by her mentally ill brother. The girl’s mother said that her 19-year-old son was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, would sometimes behave in violent rages and had attacked his sister before. “He would beat on her with all his strength,” she said. ” Her son’s mental problems were out of control, but she had trouble finding help. “We’d called the police,” she said. “They couldn’t do anything. . . . He fell through the cracks.” Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune, November 5, 2003 The San Diego Union-Tribune, March 31, 2004 San Diego Union Tribune, May 8, 2004