Police arrest San Bernardino County homicide suspect

CHULA VISTA

A Chula Vista SWAT team Tuesday arrested a 40-year-old woman who was wanted on suspicion of homicide in a shooting Sunday in a high desert community of San Bernardino County, police said.

The SWAT officers took Daniella Hess Prieto into custody without incident around 9 a.m. at the Motel 6 on E Street just east of Interstate 5, Chula Vista police Sgt. Anthony Molina said in a news release.

Hess Prieto, a resident of Wonder Valley near Twentynine Palms, was wanted on suspicion of killing a 56year-old man from Wonder Valley on Sunday morning, the San Bernardino County Sheriff 's Department said.

A Chula Vista patrol officer located Hess Prieto's vehicle around 4:45 a.m. Tuesday when the officer was driving along E Street and his electronic license plate reader alerted him to the vehicle's presence, Molina said in a news release.

The license plate reader program uses cameras on police vehicles to photograph the license plates of surrounding vehicles. The system, known as Automated License Plate Recognition, then compares the photographed license plate numbers to law enforcement databases with information about stolen and wanted vehicles.

On Tuesday morning, the plate reader alerted the officer to an unoccupied car parked outside the Motel 6, and after further investigation, police learned Hess Prieto had checked into the motel, Molina said. Believing she could be armed and dangerous, officers set up a perimeter and called in SWAT.

Hess Prieto was immediately turned over to San Bernardino sheriff 's deputies. She was booked into San Bernardino County jail on suspicion of murder, according to Molina and San Bernardino sheriff 's officials.