2 Inmates Stabbed To Death At CA State Prison In Vacaville

VACAVILLE, CA — Two inmates were fatally stabbed at a California state prison this week in separate but related homicides less than a minute apart, officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.

Mizrain Nava Cano was attacked around 3:20 p.m. Wednesday by two inmates in a general population yard at California State Prison-Solano in Vacaville, prison officials said. Jorge Cruz-Banuelos was attacked in the same yard less than a minute later by two other inmates, according to the CDCR.

Correctional officers responded and used blast grenades and pepper spray to stop the attacks.

Nava Cano, 26, of Sonoma County, suffered several stab wounds to his neck and back. He was pronounced deceased by paramedics at 3:45 p.m.

Cruz-Banuelos, a 30-year-old also from Sonoma County, suffered numerous stab wounds to his neck, chest and back. He was pronounced deceased at 3:42 p.m.

Prison officials said no guards were injured during the incidents at the prison that according to the latest quarterly report has a population of around 4,500.

Three weapons believed to have been used in the killings were recovered.

Movement within Facility D, which has a population of around 2,500 inmates — the largest of four housing areas within the prison — was restricted following the deaths.

Personnel with the prison's Investigative Service Unit are working alongside the Solano County District Attorney's Office and Vacaville Police Department in investigating the two homicides.

Four suspects were identified and moved to the prison's Administrative Segregation Unit pending the investigative results.

Inmates Pedro Garcia and Greg Medrano are accused of attacking Nava Cano, while Gabriel Mora and Richard Raya are accused in the attack of Cruz-Banuelos.

Garcia, 31, is two years into a six-year sentence out of Kings County, where he was found guilty of a second strike for manufacturing a controlled substance.

Medrano, 38, is more than seven years into a 32-year sentence out of Kings County for attempted second-degree murder, discharging a firearm, inflicting great bodily injury and carjacking.

Mora, 42, is in the sixth year of a 15-year sentence out of Tulare County for assault with a firearm, inflicting great bodily injury, use of a firearm, and possession of a firearm by a felon or addict.

Raya, 25, is from San Joaquin County and is in the second year of a 12-year sentence for assault with a semiautomatic firearm and inflicting great bodily injury.

A possible motive in the fatal stabbings was not immediately disclosed, nor did prison officials describe the weapons believed to have been used.

Nava Cano was serving a 13-year sentence out of Sonoma County for voluntary manslaughter and an enhancement for committing a street gang act in the commission of a violent felony. He was admitted to state prison in May 2017, and had served more than two years of his sentence at the time of his death.

Cruz-Banuelos was admitted from Sonoma County in February 2013. At the time of his death, he was more than seven years into a 17-year sentence for assault with a deadly weapon, inflicting great bodily injury, criminal gang activity, and prior felony conviction of a serious offense.