Breaking: America has a new serial killer

After police investigated a series of crimes, a startling conclusion was reached.

Police on Monday continued to search for a person of interest in a series of five fatal shootings in Stockton, California, that are believed to be interconnected.

“By definition, you could probably very well call this serial killings,” Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden said Friday.

An unidentified person recorded on grainy security video could be a suspect or a witness, police said, and other people may be involved in the five attacks, which have happened since July.

Two other shootings from 2021, including one in which the victim survived, have also been linked to the killings, Stockton police said Monday evening.

McFadden said all of the slayings have happened after dark and in areas with few security cameras. Each of the attacks has involved a single victim.

“It wasn’t a robbery,” he said. “Items aren’t being stolen. They’re not talking about any gang activity in the area or anything. It’s just element of surprise.”

A $95,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest in the series of killings, all of which happened in areas with few security cameras, police said.

The San Joaquin County medical examiner’s office released the names of the victims Monday: Paul Alexander Yaw, 35, of Stockton, who died July 8; Salvador Debudey, Jr., 43, of Stockton, who died Aug. 11; Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez, 21, of Stockton, who died Aug. 30; Juan Cruz, 52, of Stockton, who died Sept. 21; and Lawrence Lopez Sr., 54, of Stockton, who died Sept. 27.

Police said a Latino man was fatally shot just before 4:20 a.m. on April 10, 2021, in Oakland. The Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau Tuesday identified the victim as Juan Vasquez Serrano, 39, of Oakland.

Stockton police spokesperson Joe Silva said Monday investigators need the community’s help.

“We do have grieving family members that are asking a lot of questions, and they want closure,” he said. “We are just hoping that someone will do the right thing and report that information to our detectives.”

Paul Alexander Yaw

Greta Bogrow, 60, of Texas, said Monday her son Paul Alexander Yaw was killed July 8 in the Northern California city. Yaw’s death and four subsequent fatal shootings appear “interconnected,” police said.

Bogrow said she has been estranged from her son, who was homeless for about five years.

“I have always hoped in my heart that at some point we would get reunited and have a relationship,” she said. “It’s always a mom’s dream that their children turn out to be good people. He was a good person. I just wish I had the opportunity to speak to him again in this life.”

Bogrow said she has been in touch with detectives about her son’s death. She can’t fathom how someone could commit such senseless slayings. She said her son was at a park when he was attacked.