Land Park boy is assaulted. His mom wants help for Sacramento homeless man arrested twice

Megan Gash and her 8-year-old son have walked a few blocks from their home to a popular doughnut shop plenty of times. She says its an idyllic stroll, one of the perks of living in the friendly Land Park neighborhood in Sacramento.

She never once thought an unknown man would confront them while walking home and attack her child for no reason at all in broad daylight. It happened last week and the man identified as the suspect failed to appear in court. He was arrested for a second time in the case Wednesday afternoon.

“Other parents in this neighborhood need to know that this happened,” Gash told The Sacramento Bee on Wednesday. “It’s a crime, not just against my son and myself but also the neighborhood. This happened and it can happened again.”

About 7:30 a.m. April 1, the mother and son had just stopped at Marie’s Donuts on Freeport Boulevard. They were walking home south along Freeport with their small dog, a Corgi named Frankie, when Gash noticed a suspicious man. Police later identified him as 53-year-old Richard Meza Lopez.

Gash said his behavior appeared to be “off,” he had no expression on his face, he stumbled a bit and his posture was hunched over. He was wearing two jackets with two hoods placed over the top of his head. She said he appeared to be homeless and she’d never seen him before.

“There was just something menacing about it.” Gash said about Lopez’s appearance. “It’s just your intuition ... it made me suspicious.”

Homelessness issue needs more attention

Gash made it clear that she doesn’t believe all homeless people are bad or capable of violence against a child. But homelessness is a growing problem in Sacramento and this unwarranted attack on her son is just an example of an exacerbating social issue that needs more attention on a community level.

But she also recognizes that many experiencing homelessness are suffering from mental illness, need help with alcohol or drug abuse or simply lack facilities to temporarily house them. Gash said there are others who become victims to a socioeconomic structure, like rising rental rates, that have led people to homelessness.

“It shouldn’t be happening to any kid in any neighborhood,” Gash said. “It’s not a simple problem to solve, it’s multi-layered, multi-dimensional. But let’s make some progress on it.”

Gash said police told her that Lopez was a transient and they believed he was suffering from mental illness. She said Lopez has proven to be violent toward a child and he needs to be off the streets.

“I don’t think this guy had it out just for my son. I don’t think my son provoked it,” Gash said. “I think this guy needs help. I’m skeptical he’s going to get the help he wants. I want him to get the help he needs.”

Lopez initially was walking behind them, she said. She pulled back her son and their dog to let Lopez walk past them. He mumbled to them as he walked by, Gash said, and she asked him what he had said. She says she wanted to be respectful to him by not ignoring him.

He repeated what he had said, but she still couldn’t understand what he was saying. Gash said she responded by telling Lopez that they were on their way home, hoping her attempt to engage in a short conversation showed she meant no disrespect.

Boy was hit across the face

Gash, her son and their dog waited for Lopez to walk about a block ahead of them before they continued their walk home. She said they were crossing Bidwell Way, when Lopez turned around and walked back toward them.

“I’m staring at him the whole time, my son’s behind me,” Gash said. “The guy comes closer to me; he completely circumvents me. He walks in a circle around me, I’m standing there the whole time. But then he dives behind me and goes for my son.”

In that split-second, Gash thought he was he was trying to snatch away her son, “a nightmare” that every parent has, she said. He then struck her son, although she didn’t see how exactly Lopez hit him. Gash said she saw end of Lopez’s hand hit her son’s face.

“Slap, punch, I mean whatever at this point, just he hit my kid across the face. It was awful,” Gash said.

Lopez then tried to kick her son with what appeared to be some type of martial arts kick, Gash said. Fortunately, the kick missed. She said maybe Lopez was intoxicated and wasn’t able to connect the kick.

She immediately reached for her son, held him to make sure he was OK before she started to yell at Lopez, “You hit my son! You hit my son! I can’t believe you did that! Why did you hit a child?”

Her instinct was to place her son behind her and yell as loudly as she could to get other people’s attention as Lopez slowly walked away. Gash said she took a couple of steps toward Lopez, who then lunged at her and said the word “fight.” She retreated a bit and then he left, turning around and heading north on Freeport.

“I’m in total shock. There’s a woman in a white SUV nearby who yells that she had called the cops,” Gash said. “So she hadn’t actually seen the hit, but she heard me yelling.”

Others also came to her aid. One man walking along Bidwell brought back her dog. During the assault, Gash had let go of the dog leash. Doughnuts were on the ground, too. There were others trying to help by getting the doughnuts out her dog’s mouth.

“It was kind of mayhem, to a certain extent,” Gash said. “My son is terrified, I’m holding on to him.”

Police called to the scene

Shortly before 7:45 a.m. that morning, patrol officers were called to the reported assault near Bidwell and Freeport, according to the Sacramento Police Department.

Police said the suspect, later identified as Lopez, struck the child, who suffered a minor injury. Lopez was found in the area soon after and arrested, according to the Police Department.

Gash said a Sacramento Regional Transit District bus driver parked his bus in the turning lane, got off and handed her a written report of what he saw. He told her she could hand over his statement to police.

She also called 911 and her husband. She spoke to an officer about what happened. She received a call from police about 8:30 a.m. and was told officers found Lopez near Vallejo Way and 19th Street where he was taken into custody.

“So, (police) picked him up just a few blocks away, they were on it. It was impressive,” Gash said.

Suspect was freed, but later rearrested on warrant

The mother was called by police to Vallejo and 19th, where she identified Lopez as that man who hit her son, Gash said. She says she was told Monday morning that Lopez was arrested and released on $0 bail pending his first court appearance.

Court and jail records indicate Lopez failed to show up in Sacramento Superior Court on Monday afternoon; the judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest.

“We have and will continue to dedicate a number of resources throughout the city to attempt to locate Lopez,” South Area Police Capt. Adam Green said in a written statement.

Officers found Lopez on Wednesday afternoon. Shortly before 4:30 p.m., officers responded to the 7400 block of Rush River Drive for a report of a man causing a disturbance. Officials said the person who called police recognized the man identified as a suspect in the assault on the 8-year-old.

The officers arrived and found Lopez, who was taken into custody on the arrest warrant, according to the Police Department. Police thanked residents for helping them find Lopez.

He was booked at the Sacramento County Jail and was held there Thursday with his bail amount set at $201,500. Lopez’s arraignment hearing is scheduled for Friday afternoon.

The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office has filed a criminal complaint against Lopez, according to court records. He faces charges of child endangerment and attempted willful cruelty to a child, both felonies.

The Land Park Community Association on its Facebook page Wednesday morning had asked neighbors be on the lookout for Lopez and call 911 immediately if they see him.

“Thank you to the family for speaking up about this horrible incident and you have our sympathies,” according to the Facebook post. “Neighbors have seen him in our community many times prior to this incident.”

Jason Chapman, assistant manager at Taylor’s Market a few blocks away from where the alleged assault occurred, said the store was considering putting up a photo of Lopez to help police find him. But he was waiting for approval from the grocery store’s owner.

“I’ve never seen a hostile attack like that, even from a really angry person. I’ve never seen them go after a kid like that,” Chapman told The Bee on Wednesday. “It’s just a bizarre incident, I’m sure the guy is just unstable.”

Gash said she is going to seek therapy for her son and likely herself to help them deal with the trauma. She said her son initially blamed himself, but she and her husband have made it clear he was not at fault.

She kept him home from daycare last week, but he has returned to his school this week. Both staff at his school and his daycare have been made aware of what happened, in case he wants to talk about it there. Gash and her husband took their son for a walk along Freeport earlier this week.

“Because I refuse to let that guy spoil my neighborhood, I love my neighborhood,” Gash said. “I also know that this could happen anywhere, I mean that’s the sad reality.”