Arraignment was postponed Monday for a Los Angeles man charged with fatally stabbing a gas station convenience store clerk in Maywood and injuring another employee who tried to come to her aid.
Kevin Steve Gomez, 25, could face a potential life prison term if convicted of one count each of murder and assault with a deadly weapon, along with an allegation that he used a knife in last Wednesday’s killing of Nelly Baez, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Gomez was ordered to return for arraignment on July 27.
Gomez allegedly lunged at the 26-year-old clerk soon after entering the ARCO am/pm in the 4700 block of Slauson Avenue and stabbed her multiple times about 5:30 a.m. on June 24. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Gomez also allegedly stabbed another employee who attempted to stop the attack. A vendor and a customer stepped in and hold Gomez down until police arrived, prosecutors said.
Gomez, described by authorities as a transient, has remained behind bars since his arrest.
A GoFundMe page set up for the victim’s family had raised nearly $5,900 as of Monday afternoon.
The homicide was the first in 2020 in Maywood, which had one homicide in 2019, Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau told City News Service.