Police identify stabbing suspect

CNJ staff photo: Liliana Castillo Police said they were dispatched to a fight Saturday at the Clovis Apartments parking lot near Charlotte Street.

A 19-year-old from Clovis was arrested and booked on an open count of murder Saturday, accused of stabbing 21-year-old Andrew Gama to death during an early morning fight at the Clovis Apartments.

Clovis police Capt. Patrick Whitney identified the suspect as Luciano P. Guerra.

Whitney said Guerra was taken into custody about 3:40 p.m. at his lawyer’s office in Clovis.

Whitney said witnesses identified Guerra as the person who stabbed Gama numerous times about midnight in the south parking lot of the Clovis Apartments at Charlotte and Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Gama died several hours later at Plains Regional Medical Center.

Officials said Gama arrived at the emergency room at Plains Regional Medical Center by private vehicle about 12:15 a.m. He suffered multiple stab wounds to the torso and died at 2:50 a.m., a police news release said.

Officials said several people fled the scene when law officers arrived.

Police found blood in the parking lot and learned a few minutes later a stabbing victim had arrived at the hospital.

Officials said the man who brought Gama to the hospital left before police could talk with him, but he was located at an address on Calhoun Street and brought to the police department for questioning.

Police did not release the man’s name.

Gama is the city’s second homicide victim of the year.

The first homicide victim of the year was Sandra Bousquet of Clovis who died March 2 from a gunshot wound to the neck. Police said she was shot by her neighbor, James Fitzpatrick, on Feb. 3 at her home.