Five employees were stabbed inside the kitchen of the Dos Coyotes Border Cafe at Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln, Calif., on August 19, 2026, and none of them was hurt critically, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office. 

Severe physical and mental health problems have afflicted Joseph Naugle for years, according to the family of the 23-year-old restaurant worker accused of attacking the five co-workers, who have also expressed their sorrow for the victims.

In a statement provided on Sunday, August 23, to KCRA 3, relatives sent their sympathies to the Thunder Valley employees and their loved ones, saying they were 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.

A motive has not 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

Announcing the incident in an Instagram post, the sheriff’s office said the stabbing was reported about 7 p.m. All five victims were stabbed in the kitchen area of the restaurant, a Thunder Valley Casino spokesperson said, and everyone caught up in the violence worked there. No casino guests were involved.

An area hospital received one of the wounded, who was driven there with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. Thunder Valley emergency personnel and Cal Fire crews treated the other four, and their injuries were not life-threatening either. Photographs shared with KCRA 3 showed paramedics tending to workers on the casino floor, and the station’s LiveCopter 3 recorded the investigation from the air.

The scene was already contained by the time those images were captured. Within minutes of arriving at the casino, deputies who responded took a suspect into custody, the sheriff’s office said. The same striking picture was captured by both a KCRA 3 news crew and a CBS News Sacramento camera: a handcuffed man, still in a kitchen apron, being guided into the back of a patrol vehicle.

All Involved Worked at Dos Coyotes

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office said it appeared the suspect knew every one of the people who were stabbed. Employment at Dos Coyotes linked Naugle and all five victims, the agency confirmed on Thursday, August 20, echoing what the casino had already indicated.

No other suspects were being sought, officials said, and there was no active threat to the public or to anyone inside the casino. Thunder Valley was not evacuated. Only the restaurant closed its doors; the rest of the property kept running for the evening, a decision that showed how narrowly the violence stayed inside a single back-of-house workspace.

Thunder Valley Casino, in Placer County northeast of Sacramento, fills its gaming floor and restaurants nightly. Dos Coyotes Border Cafe is one of those dining options.

Attempted Murder Charges and Court Dates

Naugle made his first court appearance on the felony attempted murder charges on Friday, August 21, prosecutors said, and a public defender was appointed by the court to represent him. The arraignment itself was continued to the following week. Naugle is ineligible for bail, and he remained in custody without bail as of August 28. Each of the five people who were stabbed had a criminal protective order filed against him on their behalf — five orders in all, the Placer County District Attorney’s Office said.

At a hearing on Wednesday, August 26, in Placer County Superior Court, the defendant — identified in full as Joseph Benedict John Naugle — pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon charges. Prosecutors filed two counts of attempted murder because two of the five victims suffered injuries serious enough to support them. At the same hearing, his defense asked the court to appoint a doctor to examine him, though the purpose of the examination was not specified. An advisory hearing was set for Wednesday, September 2.

Motive remains the question that has hung over the case since the first patrol cars pulled up to the casino, and it is still unanswered. Neither the sheriff’s office nor prosecutors have offered an explanation for the attack, and Naugle’s medical history was raised in the family’s statement, which nevertheless stopped short of addressing the allegations directly.

By the narrowest of measures, the five wounded workers came through better than they might have. All five survived. Four were patched up on site, and none faced life-threatening injuries — an ending that owed something to how fast casino medics, Cal Fire and the deputies reached the kitchen, within minutes.