SDPD: 2 ARRESTED IN STRING OF GANG-RELATED DEATHS
Police on Friday announced new arrests in connection with at least four gang-related killings dating back to 2018 in southeastern San Diego and National City.
In total, five men have been arrested in connection with four homicides and two attempted homicides that occurred between April 2018 and February of this year.
Homicide Lt. Andra Brown said in a news release that “many of the cases appeared to be linked and involved the same suspects.”
The slayings and shootings noted in the news release occurred in the San Diego neighborhoods of Bay Terraces, Mountain View, Shelltown and Southcrest, and in bordering National City.
The victims of the homicides were:
• Lowry Richard “Ricky” Rivers, 55, who was gunned down April 8, 2018, in National
City.
• Joaquin Ruiz, 20, who was shot July 12, 2019, in Bay Terraces.
• Marco Antonio Magaña, 57, who was killed Aug. 1, 2019, in Mountain View.
• Leah Michelle Posey, 19, who was killed Feb. 8, 2020, in a shooting that also injured a 16-year-old boy.
Police officials, elected leaders and community members acknowledged last summer that gang violence had spiked, and they launched what they called the “The Peace Movement: Let’s Live, Let’s Love.” Spearheaded by Councilwoman Monica Montgomery-Steppe, the initiative was launched on July 22, shortly after three gang-related killings.
The peace did not last. Just two days later, at least two men and one boy shot and wounded a man in Shelltown, according to police.
A week later, two of those same assailants — including a 17-year-old boy who now stands accused of three homicides — allegedly gunned down Magaña in Mountain View.
Police had previously announced the arrests of three suspects in the slaying of Ruiz in Bay Terraces. The suspects were John Gonzalez Orozco, 26, of El Cajon and National City residents Ethan Apan, 28, and Kevin Herrera, 26.
Orozco pleaded not guilty to the murder on Thursday. At the hearing, a prosecutor said the three alleged gang members “set out hunting” for a rival gang member in retaliation for the fatal shooting of an “allied gang member” a week earlier. They allegedly tracked down Ruiz on Paradise Valley Road, drove up alongside him and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle.
Brown said Orozco, Apan and a third man — 18-year-old Jorge Manuel Sanchez — also shot and wounded a victim 12 days later, on July 24, in Shelltown. All three face attempted murder charges in that shooting.
Police say Apan and Sanchez — who was 17 at the time — were also involved in the fatal shooting of Magaña.
Sanchez has been arrested on suspicion of murder in Magaña‘s death, while Apan faces a charge of conspiracy to commit murder for that slaying, according to Brown.
Sanchez has been in custody since July on suspicion of shooting and killing his girlfriend, 19-year-old Emily Cortez. He was 18 at the time.
Brown said Sanchez is also suspected in a third homicide, which also occurred when he was 17. Detectives believe he gunned down Posey on Feb. 8 near the Southcrest Recreation Center in a shooting that also injured a 16-year-old boy
Police made the final arrest in the alleged killing series Thursday, when they took 20-year-old National City resident Ismael Betancourt into custody on suspicion of murder in Rivers’ slaying in National City.
Rivers, 55, was gunned down outside a 7-Eleven on North Highland Avenue.
Police did not specify how Rivers’ slaying or Betancourt’s arrest were connected to the other killings and shootings, and Brown did not immediately return messages and emails Friday seeking further explanation of the connections between the cases.