Man, 18, pleads not guilty in fatal shooting

A teen accused of shooting a man in the head in San Diego’s El Cerrito neighborhood then eluding capture for four days pleaded not guilty Monday to murder.

Joseph Aaron Mehlenbacher, 18, is accused in the Dec. 26 shooting death of 28-year-old San Diego resident Kenneth Confer. Mehlenbacher was charged with one count of murder and an allegation that he used a gun. He faces 50 years to life in prison if convicted.

New details of the shooting emerged during Mehlenbacher’s arraignment in San Diego Superior Court. Deputy District Attorney Alexander Willett laid out the accusations for Judge Laura Halgren.

After hearing from the prosecutor, Halgren agreed to keep the young man’s bail at $3 million. Mehlenbacher’s attorney had asked the judge to consider lowering the amount, arguing that it was “excessive.” Deputy Public Defender Stephanie Slattery said her client was a lifelong San Diego resident with minimal criminal history.

According to the prosecutor, Mehlenbacher had been staying on the couch at a friend’s apartment when he “became angered at the victim and the neighbors in the apartment across the way because they were making noise.”

Mehlenbacher stepped outside and confronted the neighbors, Willett said. The friend who Mehlenbacher was staying with came home, saw Mehlenbacher brandishing a gun and persuaded him to go back into the apartment, on El Cajon Boulevard near El Cerrito Drive.

While the friend was inside the apartment, he saw Mehlenbacher “open the door, aim the handgun at the victim and pull the trigger,” Willett said.

The prosecutor said Mehlenbacher gathered up belongings and took off with a person believed to be his girlfriend.

Police arrived to find Confer on a second-f loor landing with a gunshot wound to his head. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.

On Dec. 30, authorities tracked Mehlenbacher to a home in Murrieta and arrested him.