Suspect Identified, Charged With Manslaughter In Strange Sonoma Plaza Incident

Suspect Identified, Charged With Manslaughter In Strange Sonoma Plaza Incident

Four men were initially arrested and one 28-year-old man has been charged in connection with a fatal September 7 assault that occurred in Sonoma Plaza, but the 64-year-old victim was apparently hurling racial epithets and yelling "I want to die."

Arrest and charges

64-year-old John Francis Avila died Sunday from injuries he sustained on Labor Day, the night of September 7, near the Italian Fountain in Sonoma Plaza, known to many locals as just "The Square." Video from the incident has gone viral after being posted to Facebook, and a blurred-out clip can be seen in ABC 7's coverage below.

In the video [warning, it's graphic], Avila could be heard exchanging racial epithets with the four younger men, and saying, several times, "I want to die" and "I don't like living." After using the N-word himself, he is either punched or pushed backward and falls to the ground, knocked unconscious.

Charges and court proceedings

The Sonoma Police Department posted to Facebook on Tuesday requesting that the video be taken down, saying they "consider [it to be] evidence in a homicide investigation that occurred in Sonoma" and the poster's "expressed hearsay about this case is not based on facts collected by the Sheriff's Office Detectives" nor by Sonoma PD officers who were on the scene.