Man shot in stomach, seriously injured in La Jolla

LA JOLLA

A 47-year-old man suffered lifethreatening injuries when he was shot multiple times in La Jolla on Wednesday night, police said.

The victim was walking away from his car on Morning Way near Villa La Jolla Drive just before 9:45 p.m. when he was shot by someone in a vehicle who then drove off, police said.

It was unclear if the vehicle was moving or parked when the shots were fired.

The man was hit in the stomach and his injuries were considered life-threatening, police said.

Police did not release a description of the shooter or the vehicle, nor did they disclose a motive.

Man hospitalized after he’s struck by hit-and-run driver

U-T

SAN DIEGO

San Diego police are looking for a hit-and-run driver who ran into a man crossing a downtown street and then took off driving early Thursday.

The collision was reported shortly after 6 a.m. on Sixth Avenue and J Street in the Gaslamp Quarter, police said.

The 27-year-old victim was crossing the street when he was hit by a gray Jeep Cherokee that didn't stop. Witnesses did not get any license plate information on the vehicle, said police Officer David O'Brien.

The vehicle was last seen heading east, he said.

Video shot by OnScene TV showed the victim bleeding from his ear and talking to paramedics before he was taken to the hospital. No other information was immediately available.

Firefighters rescue man trapped in storm drain SAN DIEGO

Firefighters freed a man who was trapped in a storm drain near Interstate 805 in City Heights on Thursday.

The incident was reported just before 7:40 a.m. on the right shoulder of northbound I-805 near University Avenue, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department officials said.

After firefighters pulled the man out of the storm drain, he was taken to Alvarado Hospital for treatment of injures that were not considered life threatening.

It was unclear how the man had gotten stuck in the storm drain.

31-year prison sentence in murder of man struck by mallet SAN DIEGO

A man who struck another man in the head with a mallet at a Rolandoarea apartment complex, leading to the victim's death nearly four years later, was sentenced Thursday to 31 years to life in state prison.

Manuel Lopez, 44, was convicted in San Diego Superior Court of seconddegree murder for hitting Allen Stokes in the head on March 12, 2016, at the El Cajon Boulevard residential complex where Stokes and Lopez both lived.

Stokes remained hospitalized in a conscious but unresponsive state until he died Nov. 8, 2019. Stokes was 72.

Lopez was arrested on suspicion of murder about 10 months after Stokes died.

Prosecutors argued Stokes' death was ultimately caused by the injuries inflicted in the 2016 attack.

At Lopez's sentencing hearing, Deputy District Attorney Mary Naoom said Lopez had a history of similar attacks on strangers, and that additional prison time was warranted for a prior conviction Lopez received for beating a man in a restaurant bathroom in 2009.

She also argued Lopez had not shown remorse for Stokes' death.

“For three years and eight months, he left and he continued about his life as if this didn't happen,” the prosecutor said about Lopez's behavior after the attack.

Defense attorney Kara Oien asked Judge Peter Deddeh to order a sentence of 16 years to life in prison, which would mean not imposing extra time for Lopez's prior convictions.

She noted that Lopez suffered from mental health issues, which led to his honorable discharge from the Marine Corps and multiple hospital stays over the years to treat his psychiatric issues.

Oien also presented the judge with evidence of support from Lopez's friends and family, and said he has spent years volunteering for organizations supporting veterans, the homeless and victims of domestic violence.

Deddeh said he understood that Lopez “has the capacity to be helpful and friendly and loving, but he also has this other side of him that is violent.”

The judge said there was no evidence that the victim provoked the attack or that he was killed in self defense.

Along with Lopez's “pattern of violent behavior,” Deddeh said he also considered the final years of the victim's life, in which he “suffered mightily” while hospitalized for his injuries.