A 23-year-old Sacramento man arrested Sunday in Fairfield on suspicion of stabbing two people aboard an Amtrak train faced arraignment Tuesday in Solano County Superior Court; however, a judge suspended proceedings and scheduled him for a mental competency hearing in the coming weeks.
Court and jail records indicate Brandon Torres-Mendoza appeared before Judge Kelley J. Trujillo in Fairfield as the complaint, filed by the Solano County District Attorney’s Office, was read.
At his scheduled jail arraignment, Torres-Mendoza, a previously convicted felon on probation, was charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon not a firearm, a felony, with one including a special allegation of causing great bodily injury, among other enhancements; robbery; possessing brass knuckles; and resisting arrest, all felonies with separate multiple enhancements.
The Public Defender represented Torres-Mendoza, whose mental competency remains in question with a request for what’s called a “1368 doctor’s report” after a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist interviews a suspect.
Under the law, specifically Section 1368 of the Penal Code, the report’s namesake, a defendant who is found to be mentally incompetent, unable to help in his or her defense, cannot be tried. Once determined to be competent, however, legal proceedings can be reinstated and the defendant can face more legal proceedings, including a preliminary hearing and a jury trial.
Judge Trujillo suspended proceedings against Torres-Mendoza, then assigned the case to Department 25 in Fairfield, where Judge Janice M. Williams will hear the doctor’s report at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 10 in the Justice Center.
Torres-Mendoza remains in Solano County Jail without bail and also on a warrant hold out of Sacramento County.
According to a Fairfield Police Department social media post, dispatchers at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday received a call from an Amtrak conductor.
The train had just entered Fairfield, and a man, later identified as Torres-Mendoza, was believed to have stabbed one person on board and was possibly holding another person hostage.
The conductor requested help and told dispatchers the train would stop at the Fairfield-Vacaville Amtrak station.
While searching for the suspect, officers first found one victim, a 21-year-old man, with two stab wounds to the chest. That person was taken to a local hospital, where, on Sunday night, reportedly remained in critical condition.
“Police then encountered a man holding a knife, but quickly realized this was actually a second victim, age 24, who had taken the weapon from Torres-Mendoza and was bravely holding him at bay until officers arrived,” the post indicated.
Torres was arrested shortly after 11 p.m. in the 4900 block of Vanden Road, jail records indicate.
Fairfield police detectives are investigating the crime, with help from Amtrak police.
Investigators confirmed that neither victim was known to Torres-Mendoza, and the motive for the stabbing remains unclear.
No other details were available at press time Wednesday.
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