39-year-old suspect in stabbings mentally competent to stand trial

The 39-year-old man charged in a stabbing rampage that started for no apparent reason at a local grocery store in March was found mentally competent to stand trial, his defense attorney said Thursday.

Jerry Gomez was booked on four counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon after authorities say he stabbed a slot machine clerk almost a dozen times at a Food 4 Less at 2255 Las Vegas Blvd., near Carey Avenue, where he had been playing slots.

Authorities allege Gomez also seriously injured a security guard who intervened to save the 47-year-old female clerk's life.

The guard and two male store clerks, ages 27 and 28, grabbed Gomez as he ran through a checkout line area, and one of the clerks punched Gomez in order to get him to drop the knife, a cell phone video taken by a bystander showed. The clerks suffered minor cuts during the fray.

Gomez' attorney Michael Gowdey said a state evaluator diagnosed Gomez with a learning disorder, anti-social behavior, paranoid personality disorder and borderline intellectual functioning. But they found him competent to stand trial.

A preliminary hearing has been set for May 23.