A fatal shooting and a variety of other crimes over the weekend have kept police in Sioux City busy. Police Chief Doug Young says the agency has rarely dealt with such an outbreak of violence and lawlessness.
“At least in the 32 years I’ve been with the department,” Young added. Several off duty officers were called in to help handle the extra work load. A fight involving around a dozen people early Saturday morning left a woman dead of a gunshot wound and four people injured with stab wounds.
Young says detectives are still sorting out the details of the fight that claimed the life of 27-year-old Carla Gonzales of Sioux City. “I don’t know if we have an exact number of how many people were involved,” Young said. “There are still a lot of people who still need to be interviewed, including a couple of people who were stabbed.”
Police arrested 33-year-old Fernando James of Sioux City and charged him with first-degree murder, willful injury and intimidation with a weapon. There were also two armed robberies and a hit and run incident in Sioux City Saturday. The hit and run seriously injured a Sioux City man.
On Sunday, there was another stabbing, a burglary that involved a kidnapping and a second unrelated burglary where a police officer was assaulted. Suspects were arrested and charged in all of the Sunday incidents.
By Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City