Stabbing at Walmart in Lake Elsinore: Paroled inmate charged with killing worker in seemingly random attack

LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. (KABC) — A parolee who allegedly stabbed a Walmart employee to death at a Lake Elsinore store has been charged with murder, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Lonnie Will Hinton III, 29, was arrested earlier this week for killing 65-year-old Jessica Morales in what appeared to be a random attack. In addition to the murder charge, Hinton also faces a charge of lying in wait.

On Monday morning, officers responded to a Walmart store at 29000 Central Avenue after an assault with a deadly weapon was reported. Officers rendered medical aid to Morales, but she was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities said Hinton fled the store after the stabbing but later turned himself in to the Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station.

Investigators called the attack a “random event” and said there was no interaction between Hinton and Morales before the stabbing.

In 2021, Hinton pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and petty theft, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. He was sentenced to five years in prison and released on parole earlier this year.

Hinton’s arraignment was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, but Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jeff Zimel postponed the hearing until Thursday morning at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.

The defendant is being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

City News Service contributed to this report.