Man gets life for killing East Village store owner
A man convicted of fatally shooting an East Village business owner inside the victim’s f looring materials store, then making off with cash from the store’s register, was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole.
Earlier this month, a San Diego jury convicted Kevin Eugene Cartwright, 55, of first-degree murder and other charges for the Oct. 10, 2018, shooting death of Ghedeer “Tony” Radda, 49.
In addition to life without parole, San Diego Superior Court Judge Eugenia Eyherabide sentenced Cartwright to 70 years to life for other crimes, including a robbery in Point Loma that happened a day before Radda was murdered.
Before imposing the sentence, Eyherabide called the killing “unconscionable” and “pure evil,” and asked Cartwright, “For what? A couple thousand bucks, maybe?”
On the day of the shooting, Cartwright’s co-defendant, 38-year-old Lorena Espinoza, entered Bottom Price Flooring on G Street first and lured the victim to the back of the store, where Cartwright later shot him, according to prosecutors.
Espinoza was wearing a purple wig, while Cartwright concealed himself with a Halloween-style mask during the attack, according to Deputy District Attorney Matthew Greco, who said the defendants were identified after the shooting through examination of smart streetlight camera footage from the downtown area.
Surveillance footage from inside the business showed that after Radda was shot, the gunman went to the register and forced it open with a pry bar while Espinoza stood by the store’s entrance and acted as a lookout.
After taking cash, the pair left the business and walked away in opposite directions. Espinoza went west on G Street toward the GMC Yukon SUV they drove to the scene, and Cartwright headed east, according to prosecutors.
Cartwright was arrested Oct. 17 and Espinoza was taken into custody about two weeks later.
Espinoza pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced earlier this year to 16 years to life in state prison.