Who is the Stockton serial killer? Here's what we know about the suspect

STOCKTON, Calif. (KGO) -- The suspect in the Stockton serial killings was arrested on Saturday. Police say 43-year-old Wesley Brownlee was apprehended while "out hunting" for more victims. Police apprehended Brownlee on Saturday at 2 a.m. near a park in Stockton.

"As officers made contact with him, he was wearing dark clothing and had a mask around his neck. He was also armed with a firearm when he was taken into custody. We are sure we stopped another killing," revealed Chief Stanley McFadden.

SEE ALSO: Suspect arrested in connection to 6 murders in CA, Stockton officials say

We are finding out more about Wesley Brownlee, who was arrested for allegedly shooting seven people in Oakland and Stockton, killing six of them.

The district attorney there believes the weapon in the first two shootings in April 2021 was then used again.

"We then have a dormant period with the weapon and then it becomes back in use this summer and is involved in the five homicides," explained San Joaquin County District Attorney, Tori Verber Salazar.

Our media partner The East Bay Times reports that earlier in his life, Brownlee lost a brother to gun violence. He had also been arrested in Alameda County on drug charges twice, in 1999 and then in 2001. He served time and was released in 2003.

But police are trying to understand what may have led Brownlee to allegedly begin killing people.

The first person was 40-year-old Juan Vazquez Serrano, shot in his car in East Oakland in April 2021.

VIDEO: Stockton serial killer: Oakland victim's daughter believes her father tried to defend himself

Miguel Vazquez, an Oakland homicide victim linked to the Stockton serial killer, may have defended himself before his death according to his family.

His sister told ABC7 News the family is relieved.

"Por fin se hizo justicia con mi hermano y el ya esta descanzando y tambien nosotros."

Marichuy Vazquez Serrrano says justice has been served. Her brother is resting in peace and so is the family.

The second person shot and the only one to survive is Natasha Latour.

RELATED: Suspected Stockton serial killer caught while on 'mission to kill': What we know

"And they already had the gun out and they started shooting," said Latour during an interview.

It was her description of the shooter that helped police link the man in this surveillance video to the shootings that followed, all of them in Stockton.

But by now, five more men had already been killed, even though police knew they were probably looking for an African American serial killer. The assumption is that most serial killers are White men.

"A sort of negligence that endangers all of us," said Professor Allan Branson who wrote the book "The Anonymity of African American Serial Killers."

"You can't make any assumptions about any group, or this group only does that and that groups does only that. That's the danger," he added.

More stories on the Stockton serial killer here.

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