Two women shot on street in Spring Valley; deputies investigating incident
Two women were shot on a street in the La Presa area of Spring Valley late Thursday night, a sheriff ’s official said.
Someone called 911 shortly after 11:35 p.m. to report hearing multiple shots fired on Jamacha Boulevard just west of La Presa Avenue, Lt. Michael Arens said.
That was followed by a caller reporting that two gunshot victims were at a location about a mile west of the shooting site, he said.
Deputies found the two victims at the site, Arens said. Both women were taken to a hospital for treatment of wounds not considered to be life-threatening, he said.
No further information was immediately available.
teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com
Authorities identify woman killed in house fire
RAMONA
Authorities on Thursday publicly identified a Ramona woman who died this week when she was trapped insider her burning home.
Deborah Ann Hester, 61, made a 911 call about 2:30 a.m. Monday to report that her home on Telford Lane off Seventh Street was on fire, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Deputies arrived to hear Hester — who authorities described as non-ambulatory and a wheelchair user — screaming for help, sheriff ’s Lt. Daniel Vengler said.
Deputies forced open the door and made several attempts to reach the woman — but the house was engulfed in flames. The deputies “attempted to instruct the ... female to crawl out of the house” but she apparently was unable to move, Vengler said.
They retreated from the house and then reentered, trying in vain to reach the victim. “Deputies entered the house a third time, crawling along the ground (and) trying to get to the ... occupant,” Vengler said. “Again, smoke and flames overwhelmed the deputies, who were forced to leave the house.”
When firefighters from Cal Fire and the Ramona Fire Department arrived, they found heavy smoke and flames coming from the small home, Cal Fire spokesman Frank LoCoco said. Crews had the fire knocked down in about 40 minutes.
LoCoco said there were many items inside the home, which provided a “heavy fuel load” for the blaze. After extinguishing the flames, firefighters found Hester’s body in a hallway.
The three deputies who attempted to save Hester were treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation.
Fire investigators were called in to determine the cause of the blaze, which did not appear to be suspicious, sheriff ’s Sgt. Greg Hampton said.
City News Service
Boy, 15, detained after threat to Ramona High School
RAMONA
A Ramona High student warned his friend not to attend school Thursday and Friday and hinted he was going to bring a gun to campus, prompting an investigation Thursday that eventually determined students and staff were not in danger, authorities said.
The friend who had been warned against being on campus alerted school officials to the threat Thursday morning, and campus staff contacted the Sheriff’s Department, Lt. Daniel Vengler said in a statement.
Deputies eventually learned the 15-year-old student who made the threat was not on campus and did not have access to a gun.
Deputies responded around 9:30 a.m. to the high school on Hanson Lane after an assistant principal reported the threat, Vengler said. Deputies eventually found the boy at a doughnut shop.
“Once contacted, he was cooperative and told deputies it was a careless thing to say,” Vengler said.
“Deputies searched his home and did not find any guns or other means to carry out the threat he made,” he said.
As of Thursday evening, the boy was “being cared for at a hospital as a safety precaution,” Vengler said.
He added that anyone who is experiencing a crisis can call the county’s 24-hour help line at (888) 724-7240.
Vengler said students who hear of any threats or potential violence at their schools can contact school resource deputies or call the anonymous Students Speaking
Out hotline at (888) 580-8477.
alex.riggins @sduniontribune.com
Pedestrian struck, killed on I-5 near downtown
SAN DIEGO
A pedestrian was struck and killed Thursday night on Interstate 5 near Pacific Highway, prompting the closure of all the southbound lanes of the freeway near downtown San Diego, authorities said.
The incident happened just after 8:50 p.m., which was about 10 minutes after a caller first told a dispatcher there was a man on the Interstate 5 freeway, according to a California Highway Patrol incident log.
The man was standing on the right side of the freeway and then tried to cross the southbound lanes when he was struck, according to the Highway Patrol.
Several drivers stopped in the area, but it was unclear how many of the vehicles struck the pedestrian.
Within minutes, CHP officers determined it was a fatal crash and requested personnel from the county Medical Examiner’s Office, according to the CHP log.
Authorities shut down all southbound lanes of the freeway for at least 50 minutes and issued a traffic alert, according to Caltrans San Diego. At least some lanes were reopened as of 10:35 p.m., and all lanes reopened just after midnight.
No other details about the incident were immediately available from authorities.
alex.riggins @sduniontribune.com
Van strikes, injures 34-year-old woman POWAY
A large van struck and injured a woman Thursday evening in a Poway intersection, sheriff’s officials said.
The extent of the 34-year-old victim’s injuries was not immediately known, but they were not expected to be life-threatening, sheriff ’s Sgt. Dave Toner said.
The crash occurred about 5:40 p.m. where Rancho Bernardo Road becomes Espola Road at Summerfield Lane, Toner said in a news release. A 57-year-old man driving a Ford Econoline van struck the pedestrian, but no other details about the crash were provided.
Paramedics took the victim to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido with non-life-threatening injuries, Toner said. The sheriff’s Poway substation tweeted that she was in stable condition.
The van’s driver was not injured, and alcohol was not a factor in the crash, according to Toner, who said the sheriff ’s Traffic Accident Reconstruction Team responded to the scene to help investigate.