A Riverside County jail inmate was in critical condition after another inmate assaulted him inside a jail cell this week, the county sheriff’s department said.
Deputies at the Larry Smith Correctional Facility in Banning were alerted to the assault just after midnight on Tuesday, May 5, according to a department press release. They detained the suspect, Artemio Gonzalez, 55, while medical staff helped the victim until paramedics arrived. The victim was then taken to the hospital in critical condition.
The sheriff’s department said it will submit the case to the Riverside County District Attorney’s office as an attempted murder charge, though the DA will decide what charges, if any, to file.
Jail and court records show Gonzalez was arrested and booked on Nov. 12, 2024, and is charged with first-degree burglary and assault with a deadly weapon, both felonies.
He is now in custody at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside and scheduled to appear in court on June 11.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Inmate attacked, left in critical condition, in Riverside County jail
Reporting by Ani Gasparyan, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
