A man was convicted after a stabbing attack at a Ventura County hiking trail left a person hospitalized.
On July 9, 2020, the victim was hiking with a friend at the Simi Valley Cross trail when they encountered two men walking uphill, according to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.
As the two parties passed each other, the suspect, Alfredo Vasquez, 25, of Moorpark, asked the victim, “Where you from?”
Prosecutors said the question was a “common gang challenge.” When the victim responded, Vasquez ran at him with a knife.
During the violent altercation, Vasquez stabbed the victim twice in the chest and slashed his forearm, leaving him with serious injuries.
The victim managed to escape by running down the trail and into a nearby neighborhood, where he knocked on a stranger’s door for help.
He was taken to the hospital where he received multiple staples for his wounds. The injuries left permanent scarring, authorities said. The suspect had fled the area.
While investigating, Simi Valley police detectives found two pieces of key evidence — the victim’s T-shirt, which was stained with Vasquez’s blood, and another T-shirt that DNA testing later connected to Vasquez.
Surveillance footage from a nearby home showed the victim fleeing the area shirtless and bleeding, followed minutes later by two suspects walking away from the trail, including a man who matched Vasquez’s description and who was also shirtless at the time, prosecutors said.
Vasquez was later arrested and on June 4, was convicted by a jury of assault with a deadly weapon. The special allegations found true included that the crime was gang-related and that he caused great bodily injury in the commission of a felony.
“Ventura County residents should feel safe and secure while hiking on our beautiful trails, not worried about encountering gang violence,” said Hayley Moyer, Ventura County District Attorney who prosecuted the case. “We would like to thank the jurors for their careful and thoughtful deliberation, holding the defendant accountable for this vicious, gang-motivated attack.”
He remains in custody without bail and faces 14 years in state prison. A sentencing hearing is scheduled on July 3 at the Ventura County Superior Court.
