Who are the Davis stabbing victims? Here’s what we know about the 3 who were attacked
The two men killed in stabbings at Davis parks late last week are being remembered as a beloved community figure who spent years interviewing passing strangers about what the word “compassion” meant to them and a gifted UC Davis computer science student weeks away from graduating who loved to help others.
The third victim in the recent series of brutal attacks, in which Davis police are still searching for a suspect or suspects, is a woman who was stabbed through her tent Monday night at a homeless encampment near Second and L streets.
Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel said Tuesday that the woman was undergoing surgery for multiple stab wounds, and that she was in critical but stable condition at a hospital. Authorities have not released her name.
Here is what we know so far about the two who were killed last Thursday at Central Park and Saturday night at Sycamore Park, and the woman who was hospitalized.
David Breaux: Davis ‘Compassion Guy’ was ‘gentle and kind’
Authorities identified the victim found fatally stabbed on a park bench at Central Park downtown last Thursday, April 27, as 50-year-old David Henry Breaux.
Breaux has been a fixture of the Davis community for years. City officials said he would regularly greet people walking through the park and ask them to share their view on compassion, leading to Breaux being nicknamed the “Compassion Guy.”
Breaux self-published a book, titled “Compassion: A Compilation of Concepts on Compassion,” in 2010 and began selling his book near the park in early 2011, the UC Davis-based California Aggie newspaper reported at the time.
In 2013, the city, property owners and local artists worked with Breaux to conceive and install the “Compassion Bench” at Third and C streets, next to Central Park.
The ceramic bench, where community members held a vigil Sunday evening, was adorned Monday and Tuesday with flowers, candles, photos of Breaux and other mementos.
According to city officials, Breaux graduated from Stanford University before moving to Davis.
“David was gentle and kind, soft-spoken and thoughtful, brilliant and selfless,” Davis Mayor Will Arnold said in a statement. “He will be missed.”
Karim Abou Najm: UC Davis senior was ‘bundle of energy’
Authorities and family identified the man killed Saturday, April 29, at Sycamore Park as Karim Abou Najm, 20.
Police said Abou Najm was found shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday with many stab wounds, following a 911 call reporting a dispute.
His father, UC Davis professor Majdi Abou Najm, said his son was at the UC Davis campus Saturday for a student research project presentation, and had been with friends before heading home. Karim Abou Najm was on his way home on a path through the park he often used when he was attacked, his father said.
Born in Lebanon before moving to the U.S. in 2018, Karim Abou Najm graduated in 2020 from Davis High School and planned to graduate this June from UC Davis with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, university officials said.
He completed software engineering internships with Amazon and Audible, according to his LinkedIn page, which said he was “deeply involved in computational neuroscience research” at the university, working at Lee Miller’s Speech Neuroengineering and Cybernetics Laboratory.
Majdi Abou Najm called Karim an “exceptional talent” and “a bundle of energy,” who would frequently serve as a mentor to other students, helping them with job interview skills, math and computer science.
UC Davis has established a memorial fund in Karim Abou Najm’s honor, titled the Karim Majdi Abou Najm Memorial Undergraduate Student Research Award, which is intended to provide stipends to undergraduate students involved in research.
“For his short journey with us, he accomplished a lot,” the webpage for the memorial fund reads, in part. “He took pride in helping others from lessons he learned through his studies and work … He always gave a shoutout to his colleagues and supported them in finding opportunities on-campus and beyond.”
The fund is taking donations toward an endowment minimum of $50,000, “at which point it will exist in perpetuity,” according to the fund’s webpage.
Woman stabbed Monday remains at hospital, is ‘alert’
Pytel, the Davis police chief, said during a Tuesday morning news conference that the woman attacked late Monday night, May 1, was inside a tent at a homeless encampment near Second and L streets.
The woman, whose identity has not been released by law enforcement, was stabbed multiple times through the sidewall of her tent around 11:45 p.m. Pytel said the victim was one of several people who called 911 after Monday’s attack.
“She is awake, alert, talking and still in critical condition in the ICU, but certainly making progress,” Pytel told the Davis City Council at the beginning of a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday evening.
The woman was taken to UC Davis Medical Center, where she underwent surgery Tuesday for multiple stab wounds, Pytel said.
The Davis Enterprise newspaper reported based on witness interviews that the victim was a woman named Kim, and that two of her friends in a nearby tent said they awoke Monday night to Kim screaming for help.
Where did the violent and fatal stabbings in Davis happen? Here’s a map of locations
The Bee’s Rosalio Ahumada and Sam Stanton contributed to this story.
