Carlos Reales Dominguez, a former UC Davis student charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, pleaded not guilty in court on Friday. Dominguez, who was "separated" from UC Davis for poor academic performance less than two days before the violence began, appeared in court wearing an anti-suicide vest designed to protect him from hurting himself and to prevent others from doing him harm. The charging documents listed his age as 20, a year younger than the age Davis police provided in announcing his arrest. Dominguez remains in custody in the Yolo County jail on a no-bail hold. Prosecutors could seek the death penalty in the case based on the charges and a special-circumstance allegation.

Dominguez is charged in a series of seemingly random stabbings that left two men dead and critically injured a homeless woman. Dominguez's father expressed utter bewilderment and shock at his son's arrest and described Dominguez as an accomplished student and athlete at Castlemont High School in Oakland, where he graduated in 2020. Dominguez was born in El Salvador, entered the US in April 2009 as an unaccompanied minor and his immigration case was closed administratively in April 2012.