Man, 24, convicted in fatal stabbing

Rialto resident killed 1 and hurt a second at a Santa Ana River bottom party in February 2021

A 24-year-old man who stabbed two partygoers, one fatally, during an unprovoked attack in the Santa Ana River bottom was convicted Wednesday of murder and other offenses.

After two days of deliberations, a Riverside jury found Raul Sanchez of Rialto guilty for the slaying of 19-year-old Raul Saldana. Jurors also convicted Sanchez of attempted murder and assault resulting in great bodily injury for attacking an 18-year-old at the same time in 2021.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Matthew Perantoni scheduled a sentencing hearing for April 19 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

Sanchez is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail.

According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office, the defendant and victims, both Riverside residents, were in the river bottom for an off-road vehicle party underneath a 60 Freeway overpass near Market Street, with several hundred people gathered, some of them on allterrain vehicles and dirt bikes, in the predawn hours of Feb. 28, 2021.

During the event, a young man became embroiled in an argument with Sanchez’s girlfriend, prompting her to call on the defendant, who challenged the boy to a fistfight, which he declined, prosecutors said.

Sanchez’s friend, identified only as “Tony,” allegedly tried to bully the teenager into fighting the defendant, culminating in an intervention by the 18-year-old.

The brief said that initially Sanchez and 18-year-old tussled, while Tony focused on Saldana as he mounted his dirt bike and tried to leave the location. Tony attempted to push the victim off his bike, but Saldana pushed back, at which point Sanchez attacked him.

The defendant pulled a knife and stabbed Sal