A 38-year-old Bermuda Dunes man is behind bars after police say he stabbed another man in the neck and upper torso during a confrontation at a downtown Palm Springs parking structure early Sunday. The victim was rushed to the hospital in critical but stable condition and has since been released, while the suspect spent days on the run before officers caught up with him in La Quinta.
The stabbing was reported just before 1:30 a.m. Sunday at 275 S. Indian Canyon Drive, according to KESQ. Investigators say the two men involved had an earlier altercation inside The Village and later had a separate, more violent confrontation at the nearby parking structure.
During that second clash, the suspect reportedly pulled out a knife and stabbed the victim, who suffered wounds to his neck and upper torso. He was transported to Desert Regional Medical Center, where he was initially listed in critical but stable condition before being released, police confirmed.
Suspect Fled in a White Mercedes-Benz
Investigators determined the attacker fled the scene in a white Mercedes-Benz immediately after the stabbing, according to the same KESQ report. That detail helped detectives track him down days later, far from the downtown strip where the confrontation began.
Palm Springs Police Department detectives identified the suspect as a 38-year-old man from Bermuda Dunes and arrested him around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in La Quinta. He remains in custody at the John Benoit Detention Center on suspicion of attempted murder, per the station's reporting.
An arrest on suspicion of attempted murder is an accusation, not a finding of guilt. California’s standard jury instruction says prosecutors must prove both that a defendant took a direct but ineffective step toward killing someone and that the defendant intended to kill. The instruction distinguishes that threshold from merely planning or preparing to commit a crime. Those requirements are set out in the Judicial Council of California’s CALCRIM instruction on attempted murder.
Not the First Stabbing Tied to a Downtown Garage
The garage had already been the subject of a safety review. A team of residents, Palm Springs police officers and city staff spent eight weeks developing recommendations for the structure at 275 South Indian Canyon Drive, including improved lighting, clearer signs and better visibility in secluded areas. The review connected the garage’s location near downtown bars with late-night conflicts as patrons returned to their cars. The findings were reported in July 2024; at that time, no specific changes had been implemented.
This is not the first violent incident reported at a downtown Palm Springs parking structure. Back in 2019, police arrested 25-year-old Cathedral City resident Gabriela Torres after she allegedly stabbed a person on South Palm Canyon Drive, a case in which the victim managed to subdue Torres until officers arrived, as KESQ reported at the time. In a separate 2024 case, KESQ identified 34-year-old Richard Joseph Gonzales of Cathedral City as a suspect in another Palm Springs stabbing, who was scheduled to appear for arraignment at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.
The 2024 case involved a different location and outcome: Eduardo Xol was stabbed at a downtown apartment complex on East Arenas Road, not in a parking structure. The suspect, Richard Joseph Gonzales, was initially charged with attempted murder; after Xol died 10 days later, the charge was upgraded to murder. The sequence illustrates how the charge in a stabbing case can change as the victim’s condition develops, as the case’s later update noted.
Police are asking anyone with information about Sunday's stabbing to contact PSPD Detective Barragan at (760) 323-8157. No additional details about formal charges or a court date for the Bermuda Dunes suspect have been released.
