STOCKTON, Calif. — San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber-Salazar has announced her office is filing hate crime charges against the man and woman suspected of killing Justin Peoples in Tracy.
42-year-old Christina Lyn Garne of Manteca and 49-year-old Jeremy Wayne Jones of Stockton are suspected in the Mar. 15 homicide.
The two have been charged with one count each of first-degree murder, weapons enhancements and hate crime special circumstances, District Attorney Verber-Salazar announced during a press conference Friday. Garne was also charged with a count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
"We never think that this kind of hate is in our community but as we are all here today, we see that hate is here," said Bobby Bivens, president of Stockton's chapter of the NAACP, during Friday's press conference. "A young man who was nice looking educated, been in the military, graduated from our local JC is out here, going to the store, simply to shop and gets murdered."
According to the Tracy Police Department, officers were called to a gas station in the 3700 block of North Tracy Boulevard, right off of the busy I-205 freeway, on reports of a shooting Tuesday night.
Police say when officers arrived on the scene, they found Peoples suffering from a gunshot wound. Peoples was taken to an area hospital where he later died from his injuries.
During their investigation, Tracy Police Department detectives say they learned that Peoples was involved in a confrontation with Garne and Jones before the deadly shooting.
Officers with Tracy Police Department's SWAT team found the two suspects in a Stockton home Wednesday, where they were arrested without incident, police say.
Garne faces a weapon enhancement for the alleged use of a firearm during the shooting, whereas Jones faces the same enhancement for the alleged use of a knife during the crime, the district attorney's office said.
A third suspect, 58-year-old Christopher Dimenco of Tracy was charged with a count of accessory after the fact, in relation to the homicide case.
The three were arraigned in court in San Joaquin County Friday and are in custody while awaiting trial after being denied bail.
Verber-Salazar did not disclose additional information on what led her office to pursue hate crimes charges but said the incident was captured on security camera video.
"I can say I wouldn't have changed the crime unless I had evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that this was a hate-based crime," Verber-Salazar said. "Based on the past history of the involved parties, we believe we can make this special circumstance of a hate crime and take it all the way to trial."
Verber-Salazar says she is unable to provide additional information ahead of the preliminary hearing. The three defendants are expected to appear in court again on Apr. 4.
"If you think you can come to my county and do this of harm, with this kind of hate, I guarantee you we have the finest police and sheriff in this county, we will find you," Verber-Salazar said. "These fools, these evil fools, are not going to define who we are. We are proud of who we are. We are disgusted by who they are."
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