One Arrested in Connection with Gang-Related Stabbing

A Watsonville resident was seriously injured in an apparent gang-related stabbing in front of a Watsonville liquor store Friday night, police said.

Officers responded around 10 p.m. Friday to a report of a fight at Lulu's Liquors at 1102 Freedom Blvd., police said.

Police arriving on the scene located a stabbing victim, identified only as a Hispanic male from Watsonville, on East High Street at Freedom Boulevard suffering from multiple stab wounds to his back.

He was taken to a local hospital and later flown via helicopter to a Bay Area trauma center to be treated for life-threatening injuries.

Interviews with the victim and witnesses revealed that about six to nine males had confronted the victim in the Lulu's Liquors parking lot. The victim tried to flee, but the suspects caught and stabbed him several times, police said.

Police were led to one of the suspects after receiving a report of a patient at a local hospital who had been stabbed in the hand around the same time as the victim. That man, 23-year-old Joshua Zepeda of Watsonville, was identified by several witnesses as a suspect in the stabbing, police said.

He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and gang enhancements and taken to Santa Cruz County Jail.

Investigators believe the stabbing was a gang-related attack.

Anyone with more information about this case is asked to call Watsonville police at (831) 768-3352 or the anonymous tip line at (831) 768-3544.

-Bay City News