The suspect in the Fourth of July knife attack in Southern California, which killed two people and injured three more, has been charged with murder.
Logan Kelley, 26, faces two counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder, one count of assault with a deadly weapon, and one count of violence on a police officer, according to a statement from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
According to Orange County Sheriff’s Department inmate records, Kelley has been assigned counsel from the regional public defender’s office, which did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Tuesday evening. He was set to appear in court on Tuesday. It was unclear what transpired at either the hearing or the prior one, which was planned for Monday.
Prosecutors said Kelley had been drinking and using hallucinogenic substances before the stabbing spree in Huntington Beach.
According to authorities, the attacker approached a group of Independence Day celebrants who were watching firecrackers being set off in the street and began stabbing people at random shortly after 11 p.m.
The DA’s office named the deceased as Eric Hodges, 42, who was stabbed in the heart, and William Collins, 47, who was stabbed in the lung and neck. The three injured victims, two 35-year-old men and one’s 65-year-old father were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the office.
“Kelley is not believed to have had any prior relationship with the group before the attack,” the office of District Attorney Todd Spitzer stated.
Though Spitzer described the attack as taking place on “a day of celebrating America and all the freedoms we all enjoy,” the violence occurred outside of the city’s sanctioned Independence Day events, which included fireworks over the ocean, a Main Street parade, and a block party on the same thoroughfare.
Authorities identified the attack site as the intersection of 16th Street and Pecan Avenue, which is home to multifamily apartment complexes away from the beach and business core.
Police and prosecutors have not stated what they believe motivated the violence.
The murder accusations include extraordinary circumstance claims that, if proven, may result in the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has typically advocated for justice reform and fewer individuals being sent to the state’s once-overcrowded prisons, declared a moratorium on the death penalty in 2019 and ordered the state’s Death Row to be demolished by 2022.
Spitzer, a Republican, stated that he would call a special committee to consider pursuing the death penalty in every local case charged with exceptional circumstance murder allegations.
“We as Americans should be able to enjoy spending time with our friends and families without worrying about being brutally stabbed in the street in a random attack,” Spitzer said in a statement from his office.
According to case documents, state law, and the district attorney’s office, five charges of personal use of a deadly weapon in a felony were added as sentencing enhancements, with each count potentially adding one year to the sentence.
The violence and assault with a deadly weapon charges stem from allegations that Kelley spit on a responding officer and assaulted a teenage boy who was part of a group that held him for police, according to NBC NEWS.
Kelley was being held with no bond or bail.
