Man wanted in suspected Tacoma gang initiation killing arrested
A man wanted in connection with a fatal Tacoma stabbing in April last year was arrested Thursday night, according to jail records.
Cesar Chicas-Carballo, 30, faces one count of first-degree murder in Pierce County Superior Court in the fatal stabbing of Samuel Cruces-Vazquez on April 28, 2016.
Chicas-Carballo was charged March 7. He was booked into the Pierce County Jail about 6:30 p.m. Thursday on a bench warrant.
Juan Jose Gaitan Vasquez, 26, was charged with first-degree murder March 7 in connection with the death and is still at large.
A third man, Jose Ayala Reyes, 24, pleaded not guilty in July to first-degree murder.
According to court records:
Cruces-Vazquez, 25, left the Southcenter Mall restaurant where he worked and told a friend he was going to get drinks.
An hour later he was found stabbed and run over outside his car in the 7800 block of South Trafton Street in Tacoma. He died at Tacoma General Hospital from his injuries.
Police found a knife outside his car, a disposable glove inside it and one of Ayala’s shoes wedged between the passenger door and the vehicle frame.
Cruces-Vazquez was in the driver’s seat when he was stabbed by someone outside the car, investigators discerned after reviewing surveillance video from a business nearby.
Gaitan was in the back seat and also stabbed Cruces-Vazquez in the back of the head and the neck.
Cruces-Vazquez began kicking and hit the accelerator, moving the car and pinning Ayala’s leg between the car and a parked vehicle it struck.
Cellphone records put Ayala in the area during the stabbing; when police interrogated him, he said he stabbed Cruces-Vazquez in the leg but not elsewhere.
He said the attack was part of a gang initiation.
Receipts in Ayala’s home showed he sent money to Chicas-Carballo. A witness told police two men came to Ayala’s home that night to hand out disposable gloves and talk about how they were going to kill Cruces-Vazquez.
Kenny Ocker: 253-597-8627, @KennyOcker
This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 8:14 PM with the headline "Man wanted in suspected Tacoma gang initiation killing arrested."