LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. (KABC) — A parolee accused of stabbing a Walmart employee at a Lake Elsinore store has been charged with first-degree murder, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Lonnie Will Hinton III, 29, was arrested earlier this week for killing 65-year-old Jessica Morales in an apparently random attack.

In addition to murder, Hinton is also charged with lying in wait under special circumstances, use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a serious crime and violation of probation.

Officers responded to a Walmart store in the 29000 block of Central Avenue on Monday morning 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.