Police arrest 2nd suspect in 2021 fatal shooting

Homicide detectives have arrested a second suspect in the May 2021 shooting death of a woman who was living in her car near an Emerald Hills park, San Diego police announced Wednesday.

Michael Ulysses Cunningham, 20, was already in custody at the downtown San Diego Central Jail on unrelated charges when he was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of murder in the slaying of 44-year-old Tamara Dorena Shellum on May 9, 2021.

Just weeks after Shellum was killed, homicide detectives arrested Kenneth Earl Brooks, 21, in connection with her slaying. Prosecutors also accused Brooks of murder in a previous fatal shooting in Emerald Hills, and accused his alleged accomplice in that killing of a third homicide in 2016 in the same neighborhood.

Police and prosecutors have said the suspects were members of a gang and did not know their victims.

According to police, Shellum was living in her Chevrolet Monte Carlo when she was found shot to death inside the car on Bethune Court, where it was parked near the entrance to Emerald Hills Neighborhood Park. Around 10:30 that morning, someone asked San Diego firefighters who were at the park to check on the woman in the car. As they approached they noticed bullet holes in the windshield.

Homicide detectives learned later that gunshots were reported in the park about 11:30 p.m. the previous night. Officers responded but were unable to locate anything.

Jail records showed San Diego police arrested Cunningham last week on several weapons charges unrelated to the homicide. He was being held

Wednesday without bail. Brooks, his alleged accomplice, has remained jailed since his arrest on May 26, 2021.

Detectives did not say whether they are seeking additional suspects in Shellum’s death, but asked anyone with more information to call the homicide unit at (619) 531-2293 or San Diego County Crime Stoppers’ anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477.