Man Drove To Bay Area To Kill His Doctors: Palo Alto Police

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — A 58-year-old Central Valley man was arrested last week after driving from his home in Visalia to the Bay Area with the alleged intent to kill his doctors, Palo Alto police said Tuesday. The case that led to the arrest of Yue Chen started last Wednesday morning when Palo Alto police received a call from Visalia police about a man who may have been driving to the Bay Area to murder three of his doctors after becoming upset about his medical condition and treatment.

Visalia police had contacted multiple police departments in the Bay Area that had jurisdiction over the work and home locations of the doctors and also put out a bulletin statewide for law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for the suspect.

"Detectives developed information that the suspect likely had been intent on going to the doctors’ homes, not their workplaces, to kill them," Palo Alto police officials said.

Precautions were taken to identify the home residences of the involved doctors in case the suspect chose to target them there, police said.

Then, at 7:48 p.m. Wednesday, Palo Alto police received a call from the California Highway Patrol after officers had located and stopped the suspect, identified as Chen, on U.S. Highway 101 and Hellyer Avenue in San Jose.

Chen was driving a rental car, a red 2017 Nissan Rogue, and had two loaded semi-automatic handguns with high-capacity magazines inside the vehicle within reach of him, according to police.

Officers arrested Chen without incident and took him to a hospital for treatment related to his medical condition.

"Out of concern for the suspect’s privacy, we are not releasing any additional information about his condition," Palo Alto police officials said.

Chen was booked Thursday into Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder and illegal carrying of a loaded firearm. Tuesday morning, jail records showed he remained in custody with "no bail allowed."

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Palo Alto police at 650-329-2413. Tips can also be emailed anonymously to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voicemail to 650-383-8984.

Bay City News Service contributed to this report

Jail booking photo via Palo Alto Police Department