Group says gun was pointed at them; 2 arrested
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
SANTEE
A man and a woman were arrested by sheriff ’s deputies Monday night after a group of people that had assembled on a street corner reported that a woman driving by in a pickup pointed a gun at them.
The group on the corner is thought to be made of some members of “Defend East County,” which according to the group’s Facebook page has been standing guard to try to protect businesses at several strip malls and shopping centers in Santee.
Some businesses in East County and elsewhere in the region have been vandalized, looted or burned during days of protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
In Santee, sheriff ’s deputies were flagged down by the group at the intersection of Cuyamaca Street and Mission Gorge Road around 8 p.m. Monday. Sheriff’s officials described them as being protesters.
They told the deputies a woman riding in a black Dodge Ram traveling west on Mission Gorge pointed a gun at them, the department said in a news release.
A video making the rounds on social media shows the black pickup truck heading west along Mission Gorge Road with a man pointing a gun out of the back seat window on the driver’s side.
A deputy pulled the vehicle over and two adults with a young child were detained. Witnesses identified the woman in a curbside lineup. Deputies found a semi-automatic handgun with two loaded magazines in the truck, officials said.
The firearm was registered to the man driving the car.
The man and woman were arrested on suspicion of child endangerment and exhibiting a firearm, officials said.
karen.kucher @sduniontribune.com
Two mall kiosk workers attacked after theft attempt
NATIONAL CITY
National City police were searching for three assailants who brutally attacked a pair of kiosk employees after a failed theft attempt at Westfield Plaza Bonita mall on Saturday.
The employee who was almost robbed, a 32-year-old man, was struck with a hammer and seriously injured. The second employee, a 19year-old man who had stepped in, suffered less serious injuries, police said.
Video of the assault, recorded by a bystander, was posted on Youtube with a title and caption that referenced rioting, but police said the attack was not related to riots or other violence tied to calls for police reform and social justice. The riots have unfolded across the county in response to the police in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The attack at Plaza Bonita came after one of the assailants tried to steal jewelry from a kiosk, but the sole employee at the kiosk stopped the would-be thief. About 30 minutes later, the would-be thief returned with two companions. That’s when they attacked the employees at neighboring kiosks.
The attack was reported about 2:50 p.m.
The video shows the three throw the employees to the ground and beat them up. The employees were kicked and punched.
The employee who was struck with the hammer was listed in stable condition Sunday. An update on the other employee’s condition was not available.
Police said officers recovered the hammer.
david.hernandez @sduniontribune.com
Arrest made in vehicular homicide near Balboa Park
SAN DIEGO
A man accused of intentionally running down a pedestrian with a vehicle on a street near Balboa Park last week, killing him, was taken into custody in Tijuana Tuesday.
Mexican authorities arrested 32year-old Zachary Addison Porter Tuesday morning and turned him over to the San Diego Police Department, police Lt. Matt Dobbs said.
Officers responding to a report of a possible traffic accident found Met Simon gravely injured on Eighth Avenue in the downtown Core-columbia district shortly after 5 a.m. Thursday.
Medics took the victim to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“The incident was initially handled as a possible hit-and-run accident, but as the traffic investigators began reviewing video footage, it became clear the incident was an intentional act,” Dobbs said.
The lieutenant did not disclose a suspected motive.
Porter was booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of first-degree murder. He was being held without bail pending arraignment, scheduled for June 12.