Trio arrested for alleged stabbing of Hemet teen

Two teenage boys and a 20-year-old parolee suspected of killing a 16-year-old East Hemet boy during a robbery were arrested today.

Riverside County sheriff’s anti-gang investigators identified a 15-year- old boy and a 17-year-old boy, along with 20-year-old Francisco Roy Zavala, as suspects in the fatal stabbing of Eric Ronald Sargeant Jr. and arrested them this afternoon.

The teenagers were booked into Southwest Juvenile Hall in Murrieta on suspicion of murder. Their names were not released because of their ages.

Zavala was booked into the Southwest Detention Center on the same charge and parole violations. He is being held without bail.

All three suspects live in East Hemet, according to sheriff’s investigators.

Sargeant was fatally stabbed shortly before 5 p.m. Monday near the intersection of Acacia Avenue and Cherrywood Drive, near his home.

Sargeant was walking home when he was confronted by three to four males, who demanded he hand over his mobile phone, witnesses told deputies. When the victim refused to comply, the suspects stabbed him multiple times.

The assailants fled through a vacant field and disappeared from sight.

Sargeant was rushed via air ambulance to a hospital for surgery, but died from his injuries five hours later, authorities said.

Dozens of people turned out for a vigil to honor Sargeant Tuesday night.