70-year-old man fatally stabbed during argument
A 70-year-old man was stabbed to death after a brief argument with a small group of people turned violent on a Barrio Logan trolley platform, San Diego police said Friday.
The attack happened about 10:30 p.m. Thursday at the station on Harbor Drive south of Cesar Chavez Parkway, police Homicide Lt. Steve Shebloski said.
The early investigation indicates that the man “got involved in a brief verbal argument with a small group of males and females in the moments before a fight broke out,” Shebloski said in a news release.
Someone stabbed the man. The group took off, Shebloski said.
Police and paramedics arrived to find the man had been stabbed in the chest. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Police are withholding the name of the victim, who appears to have been homeless, until they can notify his family of his death.
Investigators are looking for surveillance video and trying to find witnesses to the incident.
Anyone with information regarding the incident was asked to call the Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293.
Anonymous tips can be left with Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477, or online at sdcrimestoppers.org.
TERI FIGUEROA U-T
Border Patrol agents shot at in Otay Mountain Wilderness
EAST COUNTY
A group of U.S. Border Patrol agents were shot at earlier this month when they came across a group of suspected migrants in the Otay Mountain Wilderness area in East County, according to authorities.
The shooting occurred about 10 p.m. Aug. 18 when the agents said they were attempting to apprehend a group of suspected migrants entering the United States, the Border Patrol said in a news release Friday.
An agent said a person in the group fired multiple shots in their direction, Border Patrol officials said. Agents heard gunshots and saw “muzzle flashes.” Additional agents were called.
After backup arrived, a second volley of bullets came from the migrant group, officials said. The agents took cover and the migrants headed back into Mexico, officials said.
No agents were wounded. Four days later, U.S. National Guard troops reported seeing an armed individual climb the international border fence in the same area. A day later, two people were seen in the area armed with rifles.
“Smuggling organizations are becoming desperate and escalating their level of violence because of the work being performed by U.S. Border Patrol agents,” said San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Patricia McGurkDaniel.
“Our agents are preventing smugglers from conducting their illicit business and this is their very dangerous response.”
In April, Border Patrol officials reported that armed bandits robbed and assaulted groups of migrant border-crossers over a few weeks near the Otay Mountain Wilderness area.
The attacks came six months after Border Patrol agents found three migrants shot and wounded in the same vicinity. Those victims said they were shot in Mexico just before crossing the international boundary.
Man pleads not guilty in slaying; wife’s body at mall
CHULA VISTA
A man accused of killing his wife, whose body was found inside a parked car at a San Ysidro shopping center, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murder.
German Armando Luna Salazar, 44, is accused of strangling Leyva Elizabeth Oregel Garcia, 32, a resident of Guadalupe in Santa Barbara County. A criminal complaint states that the killing happened on July 1 and that it was committed with a vacuum cord.
Oregel Garcia was reported missing July 2, according to San Diego police Lt. Steve Shebloski. Her body was discovered just before 12:30 a.m. July 4 at the parking lot of Las Americas Premium Outlets.
Luna Salazar was identified as a suspect shortly after her body was found. He had last been seen leaving the area of the shopping center on foot and was believed to have entered Mexico, authorities said.
Last Saturday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers took him into custody at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
He remains in custody without bail following a brief arraignment Wednesday at the Chula Vista courthouse. He faces up to 26 years to life in state prison if convicted.