Healdsburg Police, Healdsburg Fire, Sonoma County Sheriff, and Bells Ambulance Service responded to a stabbing that occurred in front of the Healdsburg Community Center at approximately 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Two male subjects engaged in an altercation in which one subject was stabbed in the arm. The wounded man proceeded to enter the Community Center complex where staff encountered him and initiated calls to 911. Prior to police arrival, the suspect fled north, away from the Community Center.
Emergency personnel quickly attended to the victim, narrowed in on a suspect, and identified a potential location of his whereabouts. The victim, a 23-year-old Healdsburg resident, was transported by ambulance to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The suspect has been identified as 22-year-old Luis Enrique Gonzalez from Healdsburg. As of Wednesday April 19, Gonzalez remains at-large and anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the Healdsburg Police Department at (707) 431-3377. Neither subject was associated with the Community Center nor the activities involved.
When the incident occurred, staff immediately initiated lockdown procedures at the Community Center to ensure the safety of our program participants and facility users. As a result, the incident occurred outside of the presence of any of the children who were at the Community Center for the after school program, and to the best of our knowledge, none of the participants observed the incident or the scene. Staff set up alternative pickup locations at the back of the Community Center to ensure that parents and participants avoided the scene entirely, and the City brought in bi-lingual staff from other departments to help explain the situation to parents and assist them in picking up their children. Following the incident, after school program staff contacted parents by phone to provide additional information and answer questions.
The City will be bringing in counselors and other resources for staff, and we are working with our after school partner Healdsburg Unified School District to arrange for counselors and resources for after school program participants and their families.
The City is fortunate to have a dedicated staff team who took quick, decisive, and caring action on Tuesday. The safety of our participants and staff is our top priority and we train for critical incidents like this, but each situation is unique. As such, staff will be meeting in the upcoming days to debrief and identify what worked well and where we might make improvements.
If you have any questions regarding this incident or the follow-up, please contact Community Services Director Mark Themig at 707-431-3116 or mthemig@ci.healdsburg.ca.us.