A 40-year-old man from Homeland remained under arrest Tuesday on suspicion of murder, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department announced.

Deputies responded to the 31000 block of Neer Street in Homeland around 5:30 p.m. Sunday to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon.

Upon arrival, deputies found a man suffering from a gunshot wound in a vehicle. The man was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was later identified as Ryan White, 43, of San Diego County.

Deputies contacted and detained a possible suspect at the scene. The man also required medical attention and was rushed to a nearby hospital. He was later identified as Benjamin Velez of Homeland.

Velez was arrested on Monday and booked in to the Riverside County Jail where he was being held on a $1 million bail.

Anyone with additional information was encouraged to contact investigator K. Farag at 951-955-2777.

Authorities on Thursday publicly identified three officers who fatally shot a robbery suspect after he allegedly threatened a store clerk with a knife at a Morena market.

The suspect, police said, had taken another man hostage and was holding the blade to his neck when confronted by police.

San Diego police officers Michael Howells, Matthew Steinbach and Justin Tellam opened fire on the suspect, whose identity has not been released, at a transient camp in Mission Valley, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

The department investigates shootings involving San Diego police personnel under the terms of a regional agreement designed to prevent conflicts of interest.

The events that led to the shooting began shortly after 10:30 a.m. Monday, when the suspect allegedly walked out of a store in the 1000 block of Morena Boulevard without paying for merchandise.

A short time later, police spotted a man matching the alleged robber’s description carrying a knife in the 5300 block of Napa Street. When officers ordered him to halt, he refused, prompting them to try to subdue him with an electric stun gun.

When that attempt failed, the suspect ran off, and officers gave chase.

The pursuit ended at a nearby squatters’ camp in the 5300 block of Friars Road, where the suspect allegedly grabbed a bystander and threatened to stab him, prompting Howells, Steinbach and Tellam to open fire.

The suspect died at the scene. His name has been withheld pending family notification.

Howells has been employed by the San Diego Police Department for 18 months, Steinbach for 12 years and Tellam for 6 1/2 years, officials said.

The police shooting was the first of two to occur in San Diego within a roughly 24-hour period.

At about 11 p.m. Sunday, Officer Robert Gladysz shot domestic-assault suspect Steffon Nutall, 29. The suspect survived and faces multiple charges.

– City News Service

A La Mesa man who chased after another vehicle on state Route 94 and fatally shot its driver was sentenced Tuesday to 50 years to life in state prison.

Thomas Evans III, 49, pleaded guilty last month to first-degree murder and an allegation of using a firearm in the March 5, 2022, killing of 27-year-old Saundralina Williams.

Williams, a National City resident and mother of three, crashed into the center median of the freeway after she was shot. She died days later at a hospital. Two men who were passengers in Williams’ vehicle were not struck by the gunfire.

One of the bullets Evans fired went into a Spring Valley apartment just south of the freeway, but none of its occupants was struck, according to testimony from a preliminary hearing held last year in El Cajon Superior Court.

According to testimony, Williams was driving a Ford Edge in a La Mesa residential neighborhood near Evans’ home at around 5 a.m. and her two passengers were taking packages from homes in the area.

California Highway Patrol Investigator Art Berain testified that per surveillance footage from a nearby home, Williams parked across the street from Evans’ home at some point. Berain testified that in the footage, Evans can be seen running toward the Edge, which speeds away, and Evans then points what appears to be a gun at the vehicle.

Prosecutors allege Evans then drove after the Ford Edge on surface streets and then onto westbound state Route 94 before shooting Williams on the freeway just east of Kenwood Drive.

Evans was arrested at his home about two weeks later after further investigation identified him as the registered owner of a Toyota Tacoma investigators believed the shooter was driving.

Berain testified that Evans told him that on the night of March 5, he was awakened by a noise and found two men inside his garage. One of the men shot at him and he fired back in self-defense, though Berain said there was no evidence to suggest a shooting occurred inside the garage.

Berain testified that Evans said he then “blacked out,” could not remember what happened next, and made no mention of the shooting on the freeway.

City News Service contributed to this article.

Authorities Tuesday publicly identified a 17-year-old boy who was fatally shot by an unidentified assailant last week while hanging out at a San Marcos strip mall.

Isaac Shekhayem of San Marcos was standing with a group of people in a parking lot at the shopping center in the 900 block of Los Vallecitos Boulevard at about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday when a vehicle pulled over on the street and the shooter stepped out and opened fire, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

The victim suffered a gunshot wound the torso, Lt. Michael Krugh said. One of his companions drove him to Palomar Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

“At this stage of the investigation, the motivation and circumstances of the crime are still under investigation,” Krugh said Tuesday. “There is no suspect information at this time.”

City News Service contributed to this article.

 A former San Diego County sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot an unarmed man outside the downtown San Diego jail more than four years ago was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that could send him to prison for life, it was announced Friday.

Aaron Russell was charged in the indictment with depriving Nicholas Bils of his right to be free from officers using excessive force and discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, according to the Department of Justice.

Bils, 36, was shot multiple times on May 1, 2020, as he was running away from officers who were taking him to the jail.

Russell was also prosecuted by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, which initially charged him with second-degree murder. Russell pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced in 2022 to one year in jail, plus probation in connection with the shooting.

He faces a maximum possible penalty of life in prison if convicted of the new federal charges.

Russell was 23 years old and had been with the sheriff’s department for 18 months at the time of the shooting.

Bils had been arrested for allegedly brandishing a golf club at park rangers in Old Town State Park and was being taken to the downtown detention facility, where he managed to partially slip out of handcuffs and escape from a California State Parks officer’s car.

As he fled, he was shot four times in the back, arm and thigh.

Three other law enforcement officers were at the scene, but Russell was the only one to draw his firearm, according to prosecutors.

The shooting also led to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Bils’ family, which settled in mid-2022, with San Diego County agreeing to pay the Bils family $8.1 million.

–City News Service

A predawn shooting in City Heights left one man dead Tuesday and another behind bars on suspicion of murder.

The homicide in the 4000 block of 36th Street was reported shortly before 2:30 a.m., according to the San Diego Police Department.

“The preliminary investigation showed the victim was standing in the apartment complex courtyard when the (assailant) approached on foot from the alley and shot the victim in what appears to be an unprovoked attack,” Campbell said. “The (shooter) then ran back toward the alley and fled on foot.”

Investigators soon identified the suspected killer as 32-year-old Edgar Sanchez, a relative of a resident of the apartment complex where the homicide took place.

“While detectives were still at the scene investigating at around 9 a.m., they spotted Sanchez walking in the area,” the lieutenant said. “Sanchez was taken into custody, and a firearm was found in his possession.”

Police released no suspected motive for the fatal gunfire.

Sanchez was being held at San Diego Central Jail without bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

Updated at 5:23 p.m. April 23, 2024

— City News Service

Authorities Wednesday publicly identified a Spring Valley woman who was fatally shot this week at her home, allegedly by her estranged husband.

Deputies responding to a report of a break-in on La Presa Avenue near Jamacha Boulevard about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday arrived to find 35-year-old Ashley Bird on a couch in her house, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. Bird died at the scene, Lt. Michael Krugh said.

Later in the day, authorities found the victim’s spouse, 39-year-old Christopher Bird, dead in his vehicle at Calafia Beach Park in San Clemente.

Though sheriff’s officials reported Wednesday that the manner and cause of the suspect’s death remained under investigation, Ashley Bird’s mother, Patti Weber, told 10News he had killed himself after picking up the couple’s 9-year-old son from school and dropping him off with the suspect’s brother near Camp Pendleton.

The victim had filed for divorce from her husband of nearly 13 years last fall, Weber told the news station.

A GoFundMe campaign was created to raise funds for funeral expenses and to support Bird’s 9-year-old son. The page can be viewed here.

City News Service contributed to this article.

A homicide investigation was underway in Spring Valley Tuesday following a late-morning shooting.

The gunfire was reported shortly before 10:30 a.m. in the 800 block of La Presa Avenue, two blocks north of Jamacha Boulevard, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

Homicide detectives were called to the scene to take charge of the investigation, the agency reported.

Further details remained unavailable as of early afternoon.

City News Service contributed to this article.

A man who pleaded guilty to the fatal shooting of a woman in Lincoln Park was sentenced Monday to six years in state prison.

Alex Galvan, 24, was sentenced Monday for the May 14, 2022, killing of 31-year-old Sengny Chea, who was shot multiple times near an apartment complex on South Willie James Jones Avenue. Chea’s 12-year-old son was also injured in the shooting.

The shooting was reported at 2:19 a.m., according to San Diego Police, who said gunfire broke out after Galvan and at least one other man became involved in a physical altercation with the 12-year-old’s father as Chea and her son “came upon Galvan and his companions in the parking area behind their apartment complex.”

Chea died at the scene, while her son was hospitalized for a gunshot wound to one of his legs. Galvan, who was arrested shortly after the shooting, was also hospitalized for a gunshot wound to his wrist.

At the conclusion of a trial held earlier this year, a San Diego jury acquitted Galvan of first-degree murder and hung on second-degree murder. Galvan later pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.

–City News Service

La Mesa law enforcement is looking for more information about a fatal shooting that took place early Sunday morning.              

Officers were dispatched around 12:30 a.m. Sunday to a call of a gunshot in the area of Waite Drive and Violet Street, where a vehicle was found parked in the 7100 block of Waite Drive with a shattered driver’s window, according to the La Mesa Police Department.

Officers then discovered an unresponsive man in his 40s “with a gunshot wound to the upper torso sitting in the driver’s seat of a black sedan,” the department reported.

The as-yet-unidentified man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said a suspect wearing a dark hoodie fired a shot at the victim before fleeing in a dark-colored, four-door sedan traveling eastbound on Waite Drive.

“The relationship between the suspect and the victim is unknown, but investigators do not believe this was a random act of violence,” the department said.

The victim’s identity was being withheld pending notification of next of kin. No further information was immediately available.

Law enforcement is asking anyone with information regarding the shooting to call the La Mesa Police Department at (619) 667-1400 or call Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-TIPS. They can also visit San Diego Crime Stoppers online.

A reward of up to $1,000 is available for information leading to an arrest.

City News Service contributed to this report.