LAKEPORT — The Lakeport Police Department (LPD) is actively working with other agencies to locate an at-large man suspected of stabbing two other men at the Shell gas station in Lakeport early Sunday morning.
LPD officers responded to the gas station on South Main Street at 1:30 a.m. after receiving reports of multiple stabbing victims, according to Sgt. Jason Ferguson.
Officers found two victims at the gas station, one a 34-year-old Hispanic man who was stabbed in the chest and the other a 44-year-old white man who was stabbed in the right arm, according to the LPD, which is currently withholding the victims” names.
During the investigation, officers developed information that led to the identification of 34-year-old Ronald James Blesio as the alleged suspect, Ferguson said.
The LPD believes the incident escalated from a verbal argument into a fight and eventual stabbing, according to Chief of Police Brad Rasmussen.
According to witness reports, Blesio fled the scene in a green Toyota sedan, which the LPD later found unoccupied in Lakeport, Rasmussen said.
Officers believe Blesio was transported to a home on the 2500-block of Winter Avenue, just outside the Lakeport city limits, after abandoning the Toyota, Rasmussen said.
LPD officers, assisted by other agencies, served a search warrant at the Winter Avenue residence at 1:10 a.m. Monday and located evidence related to the crime and an associate of Blesio, 65-year-old Lawrence Eugene Williams, according to Rasmussen.
Neither Blesio nor Williams were located at the residence but officers did locate and impound a white van, which could contain evidence that connects Blesio to the stabbing, Rasmussen said.
The LPD is seeking to question Williams as “a person of interest related to his connection to Blesio,” Rasmussen said. Williams is described as 6 feet, 2 inches tall, weighing 180 pounds with blonde and gray hair with gray eyes.
The LPD is also trying to locate and question Blesio”s reported girlfriend, 44-year-old Cathi Larae Larson, who investigators believe assisted Blesio after he allegedly fled the gas station and abandoned the Toyota, according to Rasmussen.
The LPD is still investigating the cause of the incident, Rasmussen said.
Jules Unger, a former volunteer firefighter, said he drove up to the Shell station trying to get gasoline soon after the first responders arrived. Unger described the scene as “chaos,” with at least eight people in and around the station and convenience store.
The 44-year-old white victim “lost a lot of blood” because of the arm wound, according to Unger, who said he used a belt as a tourniquet to try to stop the victim”s bleeding and eventually traveled with the man in the ambulance to Sutter Lakeside Hospital.
The 44-year-old was stable when responders loaded him into a helicopter bound for Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Unger said. The victim underwent surgery and remains stable at the Santa Rosa hospital, as of Monday evening, Rasmussen said.
Unger said the Hispanic victim was “completely conscious and coherent” upon arriving at the Lakeport hospital, Unger said. The 34-year-old was treated and released Sunday, according to Rasmussen.
LPD officers continue to follow up on leads about the whereabouts of Blesio, who has known ties to Lake County, but no known local address, according to Rasmussen, adding that people with information about Blesio”s location should contact their local law enforcement agency.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
