Arraignment was rescheduled Thursday to next Tuesday for a 20-year-old man accused in the stabbing death of a fellow Blythe resident.
Brandon Jesus Hernandez was arrested Saturday on suspicion of killing 22-year-old Victor Hernandez that morning at a home in the 17500 block of Palowalla Road, according to Riverside County sheriff’s officials, who said the suspect and victim were not related.
Hernandez is charged with murder, along with one count each of criminal threats and assault with a deadly weapon in connection with a second alleged victim identified only as “N. Gamez” in court papers.
Hernandez, who was set to be arraigned via video conference before a judge at the Banning Justice Center, is now scheduled to be arraigned in person at the Blythe Courthouse on Oct. 13. He remains in custody without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.
A co-defendant, 23-year-old Manuel Hector Gomez, was charged with negligent discharge of a firearm, along with two counts of possessing a firearm while on probation. Gomez made bail and is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 18, according to court records.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Richard Carroll, deputies went to a home in the unincorporated community of Mesa Verde west of Blythe in response to a call reporting an assault with a deadly weapon about 8:30 Saturday morning, with a number of people present. By the time they arrived, the gathering had dispersed. Shortly afterward, deputies learned that a person had been taken to a nearby hospital for injuries suffered in an assault, according to Carroll.
Victor Hernandez died of his injuries later that day, and investigators subsequently identified Brandon Hernandez as the suspect and took him into custody at a unspecified address on Palowalla Road, jail records show.
Gomez was arrested minutes after his co-defendant at an unspecified address on Maple Drive, which is around the corner from Palowalla Road.
Authorities did not specify a motive in the attack or provide additional information about the second victim, including whether the person suffered injuries.
Hernandez, who does not have any documented felony convictions in Riverside County, had a bench warrant out for his arrest in an unresolved misdemeanor case involving allegations he evaded a peace officer in March, court records show.
Gomez was in the midst a three-year probation term stemming from a 2019 misdemeanor conviction for possessing metal knuckles. He has no documented felony convictions in Riverside County.
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