Suspect jailed in Oceanside Harbor baseball bat attacks

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – A fifth suspect was behind bars Friday in connection with a series of random baseball bat attacks that injured several people at Oceanside Harbor two months ago.

According to the Oceanside Police Department, 20-year-old Steven Isacar Paz of San Diego was arrested Thursday on suspicion of involvement in the alleged gang robberies on North Harbor Drive.

Paz and four cohorts allegedly attacked two people in the 1400 block of North Harbor Drive just before 9 p.m. on Aug. 17 and then fled the area in a vehicle. The victims were taken to hospital for treatment of head injuries.

Witnesses reported that the masked attackers appeared to attack passers-by at random, police said. According to OPD officials, the perpetrators also confronted a passerby and made a failed attempt to steal her cellphone, which she had used to record video of the violence.

A short time after receiving the initial assault report, police received information about two people who were being treated for similar injuries at Tri-City Medical Center. Although they did not appear to be associated with the other victims, they were attacked in the same area and in the same manner, apparently by the same attackers, police said.

According to an OPD statement, the victims of the attacks suffered injuries of varying severity, including lacerations to the head, and one suffered a facial fracture.

On September 3, detectives investigating the assault arrested 21-year-old Pablo Francisco Gonzalez of Oceanside and 20-year-old Jorge Luis Perez of Vista.

The two other suspects in the attacks, 28-year-old Franco Jose Barahona of Lakeside and Sergio C. Resendiz of Yucca Valley, were taken into custody on Sept. 15 and Oct. 3, respectively, according to police.

The suspects were booked into the county jail on a variety of charges, including attempted murder, assault, conspiracy, involvement in gang violence and probation violations.

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