Full Notification

On October 24, 2022, at 6:50 pm, Novato Police received a call from school staff reporting a group of teenagers causing a disturbance at Lynwood School after school hours. There were no students on campus at the time and school was closed for the day. There were NUSD staff members on-site, who were working at the school after hours. Officers arrived at the scene and found a critically injured 16-year-old male in the parking lot, suffering from multiple stab wounds.

Arriving officers rendered life-saving medical aid to the victim before he taken to a local trauma center. A second victim, a 17-year-old male was also assaulted which resulted in minor injuries. Officers learned that witnesses had observed several juveniles fleeing the area in a vehicle after the attack.

Over the past week, Novato Police investigators have conducted extensive follow up investigation of this case which included interviews with dozens of witnesses, examination of video surveillance and evidence collected at the scene of the stabbing. During this time, we have collaborated with staff from the Novato Unified School District to put school safety measures in place while this investigation was going on.

Early this morning, the Novato Police Investigations Division led an operation to apprehend five juveniles and one adult, who were identified as being responsible for this attack. This included three 13-year-olds and two 15-year-olds. All suspects were determined to be residents of Novato. The juvenile suspects in this case have been charged with Attempted Murder and are in custody at the Marin County Juvenile Hall. 

Additionally, Investigators identified one adult, 19-year-old Emerson Gonzalez Ordonez, who was contacted and arrested this morning in Novato. He was booked into the Marin County Jail for suspicion of conspiracy to commit a crime and aiding/abetting a felonious act.

Subsequent to these arrests, Novato Police Investigators obtained and served multiple search warrants at residences within Novato to collect additional evidence in this investigation.

We want to thank the Marin County Juvenile Probation Department, the Marin County District Attorney’s Office and the Novato Unified School District for their assistance over the past week with this investigation. We would like to recognize the witnesses and community members that came forward with information that assisted in the investigation. The victim in this case remains in critical condition at a Bay Area hospital, facing a lengthy recovery.

While this has been a very difficult case for our community, we recognize the care and concern expressed by our community for the victim and his family. We have worked tirelessly over the past week to identify those involved in this vicious attack and safely arrest them. We appreciate your patience while we worked this case and followed all leads to solve it.

Incidents like this are uncommon in Novato and the Novato Police Department certainly understands the community’s concerns and fears when something like this happens. We remain committed to keeping our community safe for all our residents.

Any media requests can be directed to Lieutenant Chris Jacob at the Novato Police Department at 415-897-4361 or [email protected].