A 51-year-old man accused of stabbing a Temecula resident multiple times during a confrontation on the west end of the city, inflicting life-threatening wounds, was charged Wednesday with attempted murder and other offenses.
Ricardo Castro of Los Angeles was arrested Sunday following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation at the Vintage View Apartments, near the intersection of Mira Loma Drive and Rancho Vista Road.
Along with attempted murder, Castro is charged with sentence-enhancing allegations of using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony and inflicting great bodily injury.
He’s being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center and was slated to make his initial court appearance Wednesday afternoon at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Joe Narciso said patrol deputies were called to the apartment complex shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday to investigate reports of an assault and encountered the victim “suffering from traumatic stab wounds.”
The man, whose identity was not disclosed, was taken to a regional trauma center for treatment and was in stable condition as of Monday, Narciso said.
A possible motive was not disclosed.
Deputies from the county’s Gang Impact Team, along with the K9 Unit, took over the investigation, quickly identifying Castro as the alleged perpetrator. He was tracked to a subdivision less than a mile to the west, in the area of Tierra Vista and Ynez roads, where he was taken into custody without incident at 2:20 p.m. Sunday, according to the sergeant.
The defendant has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.