Suspect Who Stabbed Girl Walking To School Charged With Attempted Murder

OAKLAND, CA – A 26-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder for allegedly stabbing a 14-year-old girl as she was walking to her school in Oakland last Tuesday morning, prosecutors said.

Vincent Bates, 26, was seen lying in wait, hiding behind a walkway railing and trees, when he saw the girl as she approached the Street Academy, an alternative school in the Oakland Unified School District in the 400 block of 29th Street, shortly before 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Oakland police officer Makisig Sevilla wrote in a probable cause declaration.

When the girl, who's name wasn't disclosed, walked close to Bates he ran out from behind the trees, grabbed her, removed a knife from his pocket and immediately stabbed her multiple times on the right side of her
face and neck, her right hand and right elbow, according to Sevilla.

It appeared that Bates intended to cause the 14-year-old great bodily injury or even death, Sevilla said.

But the girl was able to escape and authorities transported her to a local hospital, where she was treated for five stab wounds on the right side of her head, ear, cheek, neck and arm and elbow area, according to Sevilla.

The attack on the 14-year-old also severely disfigured her face and punctured her right lung, Sevilla wrote.

Bates, who lives in the 400 block of 28th Street, only a block away from where the attack occurred, walked away from the scene to the area of 30th and Summit streets, where officers tried to contact him, Sevilla said.

But Bates then removed four knives from his pockets and became "combative" and attacked the officers, according to Sevilla.

Bates refused to comply with the officers' commands and had a brief struggle with them but they used a Taser to subdue him, handcuffed him and took him into custody, Sevilla wrote.

Bates was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland for a medical evaluation and then was transferred to the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, where he "continued to be hostile and aggressive toward deputies," attempted to
escape police custody and assaulted two deputies who required medical attention, Sevilla said.

Investigators haven't been able to interview Bates about his alleged attack on the girl because of his "uncooperative and combative nature and for safety to officers," Sevilla wrote.

In addition to attempted murder, Bates is charged with assault with a deadly weapon and felony child abuse.

He's scheduled to be arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland on Tuesday.

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