Five workers were stabbed inside the kitchen of the Dos Coyotes Border Cafe at Thunder Valley Casino near Lincoln, Calif., on August 19, 2026, and none of the wounds were critical, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office. Joseph Naugle, the 22-year-old restaurant worker accused of attacking them, has struggled for years with severe physical and mental health problems, his family said in a statement voicing sorrow for the victims.
Writing on August 23 to KCRA 3, the family addressed its sympathies to the Thunder Valley employees and their loved ones, saying it was praying continuously for their recovery and peace of mind.
“While we cannot speak on the details of the active legal case, we hope there will be an understanding of the complex medical realities involved,” the family said.
No motive has been made public. Details of what preceded the attack were not immediately available, officials said, and the investigation is continuing, according to the sheriff’s office.
Violence in the Restaurant Kitchen
A Facebook post from the sheriff’s office announcing the incident put the report of the stabbing at about 7 p.m. Every one of the victims was stabbed in the kitchen area of the restaurant, a Thunder Valley Casino spokesperson said, and all of those caught up in the violence worked there. No casino guests were involved.
One of the five was driven to an area hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. Thunder Valley emergency personnel and Cal Fire crews treated the other four, whose injuries also were not life-threatening. A photograph from inside the casino showed first responders tending to the wounded among the slot machines.
Containment had already been achieved by that point. A suspect was taken into custody within minutes of deputies arriving at the casino, the sheriff’s office said. The same striking image turned up in footage from both KCRA 3 and CBS News Sacramento news crews: a man still wearing a kitchen apron, hands cuffed, being guided into the back of a patrol vehicle.
All Involved Worked at Dos Coyotes
Naugle was named as the suspect by the sheriff’s office, which said it appeared he knew each of the people who were stabbed. Dos Coyotes employed him, and the casino said the five people who were stabbed were restaurant employees as well.
No other suspects were being sought, officials said, and neither the public nor anyone inside the casino faced an active threat. The restaurant closed. Because the violence had been confined to a single back-of-house workspace, no evacuation of Thunder Valley took place and the casino kept running for the evening.
The United Auburn Indian Community owns and operates Thunder Valley Casino Resort, which sits in unincorporated Placer County about 30 miles northeast of Sacramento and draws crowds nightly to its gaming floor and restaurants. Among the casino’s dining options is Dos Coyotes Border Cafe.
Attempted Murder Charges and Court Dates
Two counts of attempted murder sent Naugle to the Placer County Jail, and more charges are expected to follow in connection with the attack, the sheriff’s office said. Prosecutors have since charged him with assault with a deadly weapon on top of the two counts of attempted murder, and two of the victims suffered injuries serious enough for prosecutors to charge the two attempted-murder counts.
A court appearance had been scheduled for Friday, August 21, but that arraignment was continued and no plea was entered that day.
The Placer County District Attorney’s Office filed five separate criminal protective orders against Naugle, who is ineligible for bail.
A hearing on Wednesday, August 26, brought a not guilty plea from Naugle to felony attempted murder, and his defense used the appearance to ask the court for a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he is fit to stand trial. He remains in custody without bail. An advisory hearing is set for September 2.
Why remains unanswered — the question that has shadowed the case since the first patrol cars pulled up to the casino. Neither prosecutors nor the sheriff’s office has offered an explanation for the attack, and Naugle’s medical history, raised in the family’s statement, came without any direct response to the allegations.
For the five wounded workers, the outcome was, by the narrowest of measures, better than it might have been. All five survived, four of them treated on site, and none faced life-threatening injuries. Casino medics, Cal Fire and the deputies who reached the kitchen within minutes moved fast, and that speed had something to do with the ending.