3 MORE ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH 2019 KILLING
Homicide detectives on Wednesday arrested three suspects alleged to have taken part or conspired in a 2019 gang killing in Bay Terraces and other related gang crimes, a lieutenant said.
With the new arrests announced Thursday, investigators have now taken at least eight individuals into custody on homicide charges in connection with four slayings and two attempted killings that police believe were related. The shootings occurred between April 2018 and February 2020 in the San Diego neighborhoods of Bay Terraces, Mountain View, Shelltown and Southcrest, and in bordering National City.
“Many of the cases appeared to be linked and involved the same suspects,” San Diego police homicide Lt. Andra Brown said in a news release last month.
Those arrested Wednesday included Khristian Apan, 27, on suspicion of taking part in the July 12, 2019, shooting death of 20-yearold Joaquin Ruiz, who was discovered shot in a car in Bay Terraces. Apan is the fourth suspect arrested in connection with that killing.
John Gonzalez Orozco, 26, of El Cajon, and National
City residents Ethan Apan, 28, and Kevin Herrera, 26, have also been arrested and accused of taking part in killing Ruiz.
At a hearing last month, a prosecutor said Gonzalez Orozco was among a group of people who “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 semiautomatic rif le.
Someone later called 911 to report a car crash in the area, but when police arrived they found Ruiz with a grave gunshot injury. He later died at a hospital.
Jail records showed Khristian Apan was booked into San Diego Central Jail on Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of murder with a gang allegation attached, and a misdemeanor criminal conspiracy charge.
Detectives on Wednesday also arrested 30-yearold Raymond Christopher Sandoval and 23-year-old Daisy Diaz on suspicion of murder conspiracy and other charges, Brown said. Police did not say whether the murder conspiracy charges were connected to Ruiz’s slaying or one of the other related homicides.
Jail records showed Sandoval was being held without bail on suspicion of three felonies, including a murder charge with the gang allegation attached, and a misdemeanor conspiracy charge. Diaz was being held without bail on nearly identical charges.
The related arrests announced last month were:
• Ismael Betancourt, a 20-year-old National City resident, was arrested on suspicion of shooting and killing Lowry Richard “Ricky” Rivers, 55, on April 8, 2018, in National City.
• Jorge Manuel Sanchez, 18, was arrested on suspicion of murder in the shooting death of Marco Antonio Magaña, 57, on Aug. 1, 2019, in Mountain View. Ethan Apan also faces a charge of conspiracy to commit murder in connection to Magaña’s death.
• Sanchez is also suspected of killing 19-year-old Leah Michelle Posey on Feb. 8 in a shooting that also injured a 16-year-old boy. Sanchez was 17 at the time he allegedly gunned down Magaña and Posey. He was 18 in July when he allegedly shot and killed Emily Cortez, his 19-year-old girlfriend.