Man sentenced to 12 years in slaying of 17-year-old

A young man who fatally stabbed a 17-year-old boy at a Chula Vista house party was sentenced Friday to 12 years in state prison.

James Mumper Jr., 19, was arrested about a month after the Nov. 12, 2022, stabbing death of Mateo Castillo, a senior at Valhalla High School in Rancho San Diego.

Mumper, who was 18 years old at the time of the killing, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in August. His guilty plea included an allegation of using a deadly weapon in the killing and a stipulation to the 12-year prison term.

Police received a 911 call around 12:45 a.m. Nov. 12 reporting that someone had been stabbed and was dying in the home on Rigley Street, according to Chula Vista police.

The victim was found with at least one stab wound and pronounced dead at the home less than an hour later.

Chula Vista police said the investigation found that another 17-year-old boy had also been stabbed and third was assaulted during the party, which was attended by more than 60 people.

At Mumper’s sentencing hearing, the victim’s mother said Mateo’s younger brother was at the party and witnessed his brother’s last moments.

Mumper did not make a statement at the hearing, but his defense attorney, Blair Soper, said his client had expressed remorse to him from the outset of the case.

“He wishes to express his sincerest apologies to the family. He knows nothing he can do can bring Mateo back,” Soper said.

Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Michael Popkins called the killing “a split-second decision” that upended the lives of the victim and defendant, as well as their families.

“This was a tragedy that didn’t have to happen,” the judge said.

Bomb threat cancels classes at San Marcos High School

Classes were canceled at San Marcos High School on Friday after someone called the school and made a bomb threat, sheriff ’s officials said

The threat was unfounded. The initial investigation indicates the caller was a juvenile in Los Angeles, Sheriff ’s Sgt. William Frierson said.

The call came in about 8 a.m., as several students were arriving at the campus — first period starts at 8:30 a.m.

They were turned away while sheriff’s deputies and other law enforcement officers — some with bomb-sniffing dogs — swept the grounds of the large campus on San Marcos Boulevard near Rancho Santa Fe Road.

Classes were canceled. Students and staffers who were already on campus were sent to a soccer field on school grounds during the search and a lockdown was in place.

The lockdown was lifted around 10:30 a.m. About 11 a.m., sheriff ’s officials said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that parents could pick up students who were still at the school.

Sheriffs officials said the deputies will conduct extra patrols Monday.

Frierson said the juvenile believed to have made the call had no connection to the school or the area. He had been arrested as of Friday. Frierson said his unit is “conducting a follow-up investigation, which could lead to an arrest at a later time.”

Frierson said that, at this point, there is no known connection between Friday’s bomb threat and social media posting made days earlier threatening a shooting at San Marcos Elementary.

That posting was made to the elementary school’s X account on Sunday. Deputies worked for several hours and were able to determine the post was made from a home in San Marcos. After an investigation, deputies determined the threat was not credible. On Monday, the department said it had not arrested anyone, and deputies were continuing to investigate.

Police rescue disabled man from El Cajon house fire EL CAJON

Police rescued a disabled El Cajon man after his home caught fire early Friday.

The blaze erupted about 3 a.m. in a detached shed in the 1000 block of Ellen Lane, south of Granite Hills Drive and just east of Jamacha Road, according to Heartland Fire & Rescue.

Officers were able to get the resident, described as elderly and disabled, to safety after the flames spread from the outbuilding into the attic of his house, said Battalion Chief Dave Hardenburger.

Firefighters kept the blaze from spreading into the living quarters of the residence and had it under control in just over an hour, Heartland spokesman Andy McKellar said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.