Young men accused of shooting Stockton sergeant face judge together for first time
A month after a second suspect in the August shooting of a Stockton police sergeant was arrested in a sweeping anti-gang operation, both suspects appeared together in court for the first time Tuesday.
Sunthawon Savon, 20, and Brandon Rogers, 19, sat handcuffed to a bench around 11 a.m., just a few feet apart at Superior Court in downtown Stockton, as Judge Ronald Northup ordered both back to court on Nov. 27 in a brief hearing.
Tuesday was the first time the young men appeared in public together since authorities claim they opened fire at a police sergeant in north Stockton last summer as they fled the carjacking scene.
Rogers wore an orange jumpsuit, while Savon wore a red one, suggesting jail officers may be separating him from others in custody.
Both men have been charged with attempted murder of a police officer, assaulting an officer with a firearm, and shooting at an inhabited vehicle, the complaint shows.
The shooting reportedly unfolded in the early hours of Aug. 2 near the entrance to Gateway Court, off Kentfield Road in Stockton.
That’s where police say Savon, Rogers, and others were driving a stolen Lexus when the sergeant drove up and attempted to stop them.
The group got out of the Lexus and opened fire at the sergeant’s SUV, wounding the officer in the chest and shoulder, police said.
While officers arrested Savon within 24 hours of the shooting at an apartment on Gateway, Rogers wasn’t arrested until over a month later, according to a California Attorney General’s Office statement.
The 19-year-old was taken into custody on Sept. 21 alongside at least 29 other people amid an anti-gang operation that spanned both San Joaquin and Yuba counties, according to the statement.
The District Attorney’s office filed a complaint charging both men with attempted murder days after Rogers’ arrest.
“During a long-term wire investigation, it was determined that they committed the crime together, so they were charged as codefendants,” Lee Neves, a spokesman for District Attorney Ron Freitas, said Tuesday.
Rogers is further charged with an alleged second-degree robbery on Aug. 10 and for carrying a loaded gun on Sept. 21 while allegedly being an active gang member, the complaint shows.
The documents accuse both men of gang involvement and of being on parole or probation — in Savon's case, for a felony — when they allegedly shot the sergeant.
Two other people whose names have not been released publicly were charged with accessory after the fact in the shooting, according to the attorney general's statement.
Savon and Rogers remain at San Joaquin County Jail without bail.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Young men accused of shooting Stockton sergeant face judge together
