Parolee allegedly stabs brother in meth-fueled attack

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man on suspicion of stabbing his brother during an argument Sunday evening.

Gary Lee Pickard, 34, a parolee, is suspected of stabbing his 28-year-old brother in the forearm and shoulder blade around 5:30 p.m. at a residence in the 800 block of Yuba Drive just outside the Santa Rosa city limit, the sheriff’s office said.

Pickard’s family members suspected he was using methamphetamine and had not slept in four days, the sheriff’s office said. He took his grandmother’s car without permission Saturday but returned it and a family argument about it ended peacefully, the sheriff’s office said.

Pickard sprayed a couch on the front porch with pepper spray on Sunday, and his brother and his brother’s girlfriend suffered burning sensations on their skin, the sheriff’s office said.

During an argument Pickard stabbed his brother with a folding knife in front of the family’s home while family members called 9-1-1, the sheriff’s office said.

Pickard’s brother was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive his injuries, and Pickard was booked in the Sonoma County Jail for assault with a deadly weapon and on a parole hold, sheriff’s office said.