The former California university student accused of fatally stabbing two people near campus and injuring a third person in a string of attacks that left a college town on edge pleaded not guilty Friday.
Carlos Dominguez, 21, appeared in court for the first time since being arrested this week in Davis, near Sacramento. He told a judge he understood the nature of the legal proceedings.
His public defender entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf, Fox San Francisco reported.
A prosecutor said the crimes were “of such an egregious and dangerous nature to the community that it took two lives and almost caused a third person her life.”
Dominguez is charged with two counts of murder and a count of aggravated assault.
Dominguez attended the University of California, Davis, until last week. He was in his third year at the school until April 25, when he was separated because of academic reasons, the university said.
The attacks began April 27 with the stabbing of 50-year-old David Henry Breaux, who was found dead in the city’s Central Park.
Breaux was locally known as the “compassion guy” because he often asked passersby what “compassion” meant to them, according to FOX 40 Sacramento.
On April 29, Karim Abou Najm, a UC Davis student, was fatally stabbed while walking home and 64-year-old Kimberlee Guillory, a homeless woman, was attacked while in her tent Monday. She was stabbed multiple times, but survived.
Dominguez was ordered to be held without bail Friday.
