Her attacker is a suspected serial killer, but she offers him forgiveness

Stockton, California (Trends Wide) — His body is riddled with scars from bullets and shrapnel. Just below the skin on her waist and chest are two lodged pieces of ammunition. However, Natasha LaTour is still alive: she is believed to be the sole survivor of a suspected serial killer.

Between 2021 and 2022, seven men were shot to death at various locations in Oakland and Stockton, California, in nighttime attacks that left residents on edge. The man accused of murdering these men, Wesley Brownlee, also reportedly attacked LaTour.

Brownlee, charged with seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, among other charges, is expected to appear in court to testify on January 17. His attorney did not immediately respond to Trends Wide’s request for comment.

In an interview with Trends Wide, an effervescent LaTour, who was talking at a mile per hour, returned to the scene where she narrowly escaped death to recount the details of her shooting, the subsequent police response and her plans to move forward.

While living in Stockton in April 2021, LaTour was addicted to methamphetamine, living on the streets and collecting soda cans to earn enough money to survive, she said.

At about 3 a.m. on the night of April 16, while concealed in overgrown brush near railroad tracks and a one-way street, the crunch of footsteps on rocky gravel behind her broke the silence before dawn

Natasha LaTour’s body is riddled with scars from gunshots and shrapnel. Credit: Carolyn Fong/Redux for Trends Wide

Startled, LaTour spun around to see a dark figure with a gun pointed directly at her.

“I think he chose me because I was alone,” she said of the attacker, who she described as dressed in dark clothes and his face hidden by a mask. Although he does not remember hearing any shots, LaTour clearly remembers seeing the muzzle flash of the gun and realizing he had been shot.

“It was like someone was throwing marbles at you or something…with little bumps,” he said. “Then comes the ‘Oh my gosh, that’s it.’ There’s a searing burn, and then comes the pain.”

LaTour said he doesn’t know exactly how many times he was shot, given the scars from bullets and shrapnel, but he thinks between eight and 10.

With injuries from his collarbone and shoulder to his hip, LaTour was struggling to breathe as he fell to the ground.

Lying in the cold night air, feeling the blood spurt from her abdomen, LaTour remembered that in that moment she had seen the light. “There was only one voice listening to me: Jesus,” she said. “I never saw it, but I felt it.”

LaTour managed to slowly move on his back more than 18 meters across the rocky ground until he finally reached the street. She climbed a small incline hoping a car would see her, but she said she was afraid to move her arms because, with each movement, she “felt more blood coming out.”

Finally, someone saw her and called for help.

LaTour was shot near the train tracks in Stockton in April 2021. Credit: Carolyn Fong/Redux for Trends Wide

Five minutes later, Stockton Police officers arrived, an incident report shows, followed shortly by an ambulance. LaTour recalls that the ambulance had to wait for a train to pass so they could load her up and take her to the nearest trauma center. She says that she then lost consciousness and woke up four days later in the hospital. LaTour said that she kept feeling the presence of Jesus next to her.

After another week in the hospital, and months of recovery from severe injuries to his clavicle, shoulder, lung, liver, and even nerve damage, LaTour says his “forced sobriety” quickly became “effortless sobriety.” .

He also found forgiveness for his alleged attacker.

“I totally forgive Wesley Brownlee,” LaTour said, but “I’m not saying you should trust me in a room with him,” he added. “I’ve tried to hate him. God forbid.”

LaTour in front of City Hall in Stockton, California. Credit: Carolyn Fong/Redux for Trends Wide

But LaTour admits that she finds it harder to forgive officers who she says failed to properly investigate her case. The woman herself told Trends Wide that she felt ignored by the police after the shooting, saying that “the only statement they took from me was when she was dying in the middle of the street.”

A year and a half after the LaTour shooting, Stockton police had linked six homicides and were actively looking for a suspect. Chief Stanley McFadden asked the public for clues and offered a large reward to identify the person responsible for the murders that had the region on edge and national attention.

The Police Department then released an obscure surveillance image of a person of interest that LaTour recognized. “It looked like he was hanging his clothes on her. He also looked like that the night of the shooting,” he said. LaTour told police the image resembled his attacker, he said.

About two weeks later, Brownlee was being watched by police late at night, Stockton Police said. Brownlee appeared to be “hunting” and “on a mission to kill,” McFadden said in mid-October, after Brownlee was taken into custody. “We are sure that we stopped another massacre,” the police chief said when announcing the arrest.

Shortly thereafter, Brownlee was charged with three counts of murder. Two months later, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office added five more charges: four more of murder and, for the shooting of LaTour, of attempted murder.

Ballistics proved to be a common thread in several of the slayings, according to the California State Law Enforcement Association, which said in October that authorities had “a high degree of confidence that the same firearm was used.” in three of the recent homicides.

Wesley Brownlee with public defender Allison Nobert during their appearance in San Joaquin County Supreme Court in October. Credit: Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee/AP

According to charging documents, Brownlee is accused of killing one man on April 10, 2021, and another on April 16, the same night LaTour was shot.

Agents did not follow up with her during her 12-day hospital stay, LaTour said. When LaTour sought out the investigating officer in the weeks after the shooting, he was told that the weapon used in the shooting was related to a homicide that occurred in April 2021.

Given his communication with the officer and his belief that he was just a target of opportunity, LaTour suspects that police knew all along that a serial killer was on the loose. He also believes that the police knew that the shooting of him was related to at least one other and that if they had investigated properly, other lives could have been saved.

Of the seven men Brownlee is accused of murdering, five of them died after LaTour was shot, according to charging documents. “Everyone who died after me didn’t have to,” LaTour said.

Joe Silva, Public Information Officer for the Stockton Police Department, declined to comment directly on LaTour’s allegations, citing the pending criminal case against Brownlee. Silva and Stockton Police Chief McFadden offered LaTour a private apology in connection with the investigation into his case.

“The boss and I apologized to her and the reason for that was because she is a victim of a violent crime and she apologized because of a follow-up that was not done during her investigation,” Silva said.

Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden speaks at a news conference in October about Brownlee’s arrest. Credit: Clifford Oto/The Record/AP

LaTour said McFadden and Silva’s apology came during a vigil for the victims. According to Silva, the agent who investigated his case left the department to move to another agency.

Still haunted by nightmares about the incident, LaTour is interested in becoming a victim advocate, hoping she can help find ways to facilitate recovery for other crime victims. LaTour is especially interested in ensuring that victims are offered timely communications about their cases and, especially those without health insurance, are assisted with timely healthcare, including physical therapy and mental health treatment.

“I’m not mad about the shooting, I’m mad about what I have to go through,” she said. Above all, LaTour says she is grateful for not losing her life, for finding God, and for the opportunity to help others.

“The best way to show gratitude is to be sober,” she adds. Twenty months after the shooting, she’s still clean.

“I’ll never come back [a consumir]he promised. “Never. Never. Never,” she insisted, firm in his belief. “I’m honored that God uses me for whatever he wants. God is great. Seriously, he’s the best,” she said.

Stockton, California (Trends Wide) — His body is riddled with scars from bullets and shrapnel. Just below the skin on her waist and chest are two lodged pieces of ammunition. However, Natasha LaTour is still alive: she is believed to be the sole survivor of a suspected serial killer.

Between 2021 and 2022, seven men were shot to death at various locations in Oakland and Stockton, California, in nighttime attacks that left residents on edge. The man accused of murdering these men, Wesley Brownlee, also reportedly attacked LaTour.

Brownlee, charged with seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, among other charges, is expected to appear in court to testify on January 17. His attorney did not immediately respond to Trends Wide’s request for comment.

In an interview with Trends Wide, an effervescent LaTour, who was talking at a mile per hour, returned to the scene where she narrowly escaped death to recount the details of her shooting, the subsequent police response and her plans to move forward.

While living in Stockton in April 2021, LaTour was addicted to methamphetamine, living on the streets and collecting soda cans to earn enough money to survive, she said.

At about 3 a.m. on the night of April 16, while concealed in overgrown brush near railroad tracks and a one-way street, the crunch of footsteps on rocky gravel behind her broke the silence before dawn

Natasha LaTour’s body is riddled with scars from gunshots and shrapnel. Credit: Carolyn Fong/Redux for Trends Wide

Startled, LaTour spun around to see a dark figure with a gun pointed directly at her.

“I think he chose me because I was alone,” she said of the attacker, who she described as dressed in dark clothes and his face hidden by a mask. Although he does not remember hearing any shots, LaTour clearly remembers seeing the muzzle flash of the gun and realizing he had been shot.

“It was like someone was throwing marbles at you or something…with little bumps,” he said. “Then comes the ‘Oh my gosh, that’s it.’ There’s a searing burn, and then comes the pain.”

LaTour said he doesn’t know exactly how many times he was shot, given the scars from bullets and shrapnel, but he thinks between eight and 10.

With injuries from his collarbone and shoulder to his hip, LaTour was struggling to breathe as he fell to the ground.

Lying in the cold night air, feeling the blood spurt from her abdomen, LaTour remembered that in that moment she had seen the light. “There was only one voice listening to me: Jesus,” she said. “I never saw it, but I felt it.”

LaTour managed to slowly move on his back more than 18 meters across the rocky ground until he finally reached the street. She climbed a small incline hoping a car would see her, but she said she was afraid to move her arms because, with each movement, she “felt more blood coming out.”

Finally, someone saw her and called for help.

LaTour was shot near the train tracks in Stockton in April 2021. Credit: Carolyn Fong/Redux for Trends Wide

Five minutes later, Stockton Police officers arrived, an incident report shows, followed shortly by an ambulance. LaTour recalls that the ambulance had to wait for a train to pass so they could load her up and take her to the nearest trauma center. She says that she then lost consciousness and woke up four days later in the hospital. LaTour said that she kept feeling the presence of Jesus next to her.

After another week in the hospital, and months of recovery from severe injuries to his clavicle, shoulder, lung, liver, and even nerve damage, LaTour says his “forced sobriety” quickly became “effortless sobriety.” .

He also found forgiveness for his alleged attacker.

“I totally forgive Wesley Brownlee,” LaTour said, but “I’m not saying you should trust me in a room with him,” he added. “I’ve tried to hate him. God forbid.”

LaTour in front of City Hall in Stockton, California. Credit: Carolyn Fong/Redux for Trends Wide

But LaTour admits that she finds it harder to forgive officers who she says failed to properly investigate her case. The woman herself told Trends Wide that she felt ignored by the police after the shooting, saying that “the only statement they took from me was when she was dying in the middle of the street.”

A year and a half after the LaTour shooting, Stockton police had linked six homicides and were actively looking for a suspect. Chief Stanley McFadden asked the public for clues and offered a large reward to identify the person responsible for the murders that had the region on edge and national attention.

The Police Department then released an obscure surveillance image of a person of interest that LaTour recognized. “It looked like he was hanging his clothes on her. He also looked like that the night of the shooting,” he said. LaTour told police the image resembled his attacker, he said.

About two weeks later, Brownlee was being watched by police late at night, Stockton Police said. Brownlee appeared to be “hunting” and “on a mission to kill,” McFadden said in mid-October, after Brownlee was taken into custody. “We are sure that we stopped another massacre,” the police chief said when announcing the arrest.

Shortly thereafter, Brownlee was charged with three counts of murder. Two months later, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office added five more charges: four more of murder and, for the shooting of LaTour, of attempted murder.

Ballistics proved to be a common thread in several of the slayings, according to the California State Law Enforcement Association, which said in October that authorities had “a high degree of confidence that the same firearm was used.” in three of the recent homicides.

Wesley Brownlee with public defender Allison Nobert during their appearance in San Joaquin County Supreme Court in October. Credit: Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee/AP

According to charging documents, Brownlee is accused of killing one man on April 10, 2021, and another on April 16, the same night LaTour was shot.

Agents did not follow up with her during her 12-day hospital stay, LaTour said. When LaTour sought out the investigating officer in the weeks after the shooting, he was told that the weapon used in the shooting was related to a homicide that occurred in April 2021.

Given his communication with the officer and his belief that he was just a target of opportunity, LaTour suspects that police knew all along that a serial killer was on the loose. He also believes that the police knew that the shooting of him was related to at least one other and that if they had investigated properly, other lives could have been saved.

Of the seven men Brownlee is accused of murdering, five of them died after LaTour was shot, according to charging documents. “Everyone who died after me didn’t have to,” LaTour said.

Joe Silva, Public Information Officer for the Stockton Police Department, declined to comment directly on LaTour’s allegations, citing the pending criminal case against Brownlee. Silva and Stockton Police Chief McFadden offered LaTour a private apology in connection with the investigation into his case.

“The boss and I apologized to her and the reason for that was because she is a victim of a violent crime and she apologized because of a follow-up that was not done during her investigation,” Silva said.

Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden speaks at a news conference in October about Brownlee’s arrest. Credit: Clifford Oto/The Record/AP

LaTour said McFadden and Silva’s apology came during a vigil for the victims. According to Silva, the agent who investigated his case left the department to move to another agency.

Still haunted by nightmares about the incident, LaTour is interested in becoming a victim advocate, hoping she can help find ways to facilitate recovery for other crime victims. LaTour is especially interested in ensuring that victims are offered timely communications about their cases and, especially those without health insurance, are assisted with timely healthcare, including physical therapy and mental health treatment.

“I’m not mad about the shooting, I’m mad about what I have to go through,” she said. Above all, LaTour says she is grateful for not losing her life, for finding God, and for the opportunity to help others.

“The best way to show gratitude is to be sober,” she adds. Twenty months after the shooting, she’s still clean.

“I’ll never come back [a consumir]he promised. “Never. Never. Never,” she insisted, firm in his belief. “I’m honored that God uses me for whatever he wants. God is great. Seriously, he’s the best,” she said.