Murder conviction in 2018 shooting death

A man accused of fatally shooting an East Village business owner inside the victim’s flooring materials store nearly four years ago, then making off with cash from the store’s register, was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder.

Kevin Eugene Cartwright, 55, was charged in the Oct. 10, 2018 shooting death of Ghedeer “Tony” Radda, 49, at Bottom Price Flooring on G Street. Cartwright is expected to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole at a San Diego Superior Court hearing set for June 29.

Cartwright’s co-defendant, Lorena Espinoza, entered the business first and lured Radda to the back of his store, where he was later fatally shot by Cartwright, prosecutors said.

Espinoza, 38, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced earlier this year to 16 years to life in state prison.

According to Deputy District Attorney Matthew Greco, the defendants were identified after the shooting through smart streetlight camera footage recovered from the downtown area. The prosecutor said Espinoza was wearing a purple wig at the time of the attack, and Cartwright concealed himself with a Halloween-style mask.

Surveillance footage showed that after Radda was shot, the gunman forced the register open with a pry bar while Espinoza stood by the store’s entrance and acted as a lookout. After making off with cash, the pair left and walked away in opposite directions, according to prosecutors.

Cartwright was arrested Oct. 17, 2018. Espinoza was taken into custody about two weeks later.

After Cartwright’s arrest, Greco said, police seized a gun belonging to Radda and ammunition for a 9mm gun that was “identical” to the ammunition used in the shooting at Bottom Price Flooring.

Defense attorney Jeremy Thornton argued that there was no definitive proof his client was the masked gunman and that fingerprints and DNA were absent from several items prosecutors claimed belonged to the killer.

Cartwright was also convicted of charges stemming from a separate armed robbery in Point Loma, which happened a day before Radda’s killing.