Clouds over Davis begin to lift a bit

Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel was short and to the point as he opened Thursday afternoon’s press conference before a packed community meeting room at police headquarters on Fifth Street. “We are here to make an announcement that everyone wants to hear,” he began. “We have made an arrest.”

Added Mayor Will Arnold, who has shown true leadership during this terrible week, “The person responsible for these horrific, brutal attacks is no longer free to terrorize our community.”

Although the chief wouldn’t say, the consensus among those in the room is that the police have obtained a confession and now the relentless wheels of justice will begin to take over.

Yes, we always hear the admonition that a suspect is innocent until proven guilty, but that’s an important instruction for judges and jurors. The rest of us are free to draw our own conclusions.

Chief Pytel certainly thinks 21-year-old Carlos Dominguez is guilty of two murders, plus an attempted murder, or he wouldn’t have had him arrested.

And Mayor Arnold certainly thinks Dominguez is guilty or he wouldn’t have said our streets and parks are safe once again.

It turns out Dominguez was a third-year UC Davis student until April 25 when, according to UCD officials, “he was separated for academic reasons.”

A day or two later he began his killing rampage. Police do not believe he had a prior record of any kind.

We do know that Dominguez was living with an undisclosed number of roommates in a rental home on Hawthorne Lane in West Davis and returned on Wednesday afternoon to the scene of the second murder at Sycamore Park carrying a hunting knife in his backpack. He was wearing the same clothes witnesses described from his third knife attack earlier this week in East Davis. This prompted at least 15 calls to police headquarters and Dominguez was quickly detained.

Chief Pytel noted that a murderer returning so soon to the scene of the crime during daylight hours was “unusual and unique” in his experience in law enforcement.

We may all be breathing a sigh of relief, but even now things don’t seem

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quite right. I suspect it will take a while for things to return to “normal.”

As I asked in this space earlier this week, how can we explain the tragedy and terror that have stricken our beloved hometown? I don’t think any of us dreamed that a recent UC Davis student would turn out to be a serial killer.

Like so many others in our community, during the last seven days I have moved from moments of anger and bewilderment at the horrific actions of a serial killer to long stretches of intense sadness for the victims and their many grieving loved ones.

How could this have happened in Davis? How could it have happened anywhere?

We are not immune. Never have been.

Longtime Davisites will never forget the horrific abduction and murder of Davis teenagers John Riggins and Sabrina Gonsalves in December of 1980.

And none of us can erase the memory of the equally horrific torture and murder of Claudia Maupin and Chip Northup as they slept in their home in April of 2013. It’s impossible to make sense of the senseless. The “why” will never be answered. For so many reasons, this case will be especially troubling for a long, long time.

One ray of light in the darkness is that the third victim, a woman named Kimberlee who had been sleeping alone in a tent along L Street, is alert and “improving” according to Chief Pytel. We hope and pray that she will recover quickly and fully from her wounds and return to our community whole, with a warm and inviting place to live and people to care for her.

But two valued members of our community have been taken from us far too soon.

I wrote about them earlier this week, but the way they lived their lives bears repeating.

David Breaux, the Compassion Guy, who seemingly everyone knew from his famous bench at the southeast corner of Third and C, touched our town’s soul like few others.

Said Mayor Arnold of David: “We shared in his vision for a kinder world. We connected on what it means to be human and humane. David was gentle and kind, soft-spoken and thoughtful, brilliant and selfless. He touched so many lives in such a determined and inspired way that many of us in our lifetimes will never reach.”

And then there was 20-year-old UC Davis senior Karim Abou Najm, who was simply riding his bicycle home on a warm and beautiful spring evening.

Our family and so many other families in town have kids who were classmates of Karim’s at Davis High School or UC Davis.

As Chancellor Gary May noted, “He was an exceptional student, son and friend.”

Karim’s father, UC Davis professor Majdi Abou Najm, showed immense grace and kindness through his grief as he granted requests from a number of news outlets to talk about his son.

The family had moved here from Lebanon a few years ago.

“We came here hoping for safety,” he explained.

They were so proud of their son and all he had accomplished and all he had given back to others in his short life.

“Karim was such an incredible talent. He wanted to do computer science, so he came to UC Davis,” Majdi told one reporter.

“He was just six weeks away from graduation. It’s devastating. Instead of attending his graduation, we’re making arrangements for his departure.”

Added Majdi, “I want this to be his memory: a bundle of energy, a bundle of positivity. Someone who was full of ambition, proud of his roots, who just wanted to make the world a better place.” around world more!), festive hors d’oeuvres, mouth-watering desserts, and inspiring conversation. Also, enter the mask contest; bring a mask, make your own at the ball, or pick up a mask at the door. Prizes will be awarded for most creative mask, best group effort and best best mental-healthawareness-inspired.

No doubt, there will soon be a scholarship in Karim’s name and many of us will be proud to donate.

David Henry Breaux and Karim Abou Najm. Linked by tragedy, of course, but linked much much more by the love and caring they showed to those they came in contact with during special moments in their everyday lives.

Our town was blessed beyond measure to have them among us. They cannot be replaced and they will never be forgotten.

— Reach Bob Dunning at bdunning@ davisenterprise.net.

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