SAN DIEGO —
Police on Friday announced the arrest of a suspect in the slaying of a man found pinned under a car after being shot and dragged by the vehicle last year in Mount Hope.
Fernando Arellano, 20, is suspected of killing 56-year-old David Aviles on June 20, according to San Diego police homicide Lt. Andra Brown. The killing occurred around 8:15 p.m. on F Street between Morrison and 41st streets.
Arellano was arrested Thursday afternoon in Tecate, Mexico, and turned over to U.S. authorities at the border, Brown said. She did not say how detectives identified Arellano as the suspect or located him in the Baja California city, which sits just south of the border about 30 miles east of Tijuana.
The night Aviles was killed, several 911 callers reported hearing gunshots, and police officers arrived to find the victim pinned underneath a dark-colored Honda that had been abandoned by its occupants, Brown said. Several shell casings were also found nearby.
Aviles died at the scene, according to Brown. An autopsy confirmed the San Diego resident suffered both gunshot wounds and blunt forces injuries from being dragged and run over.
While investigating the slaying, Brown said detectives learned Aviles had been involved in some sort of altercation with the occupants of the Honda before shots rang out and Aviles was dragged “for a good distance.” Witnesses told police Aviles and a friend may have been going to the friend’s car to retrieve some cigarettes when the altercation occurred.
Witnesses also told police that at two or three people fled from the Honda after Aviles was shot and dragged, Brown said last year.
Jail records showed Arellano was booked Thursday night into the downtown San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of murder. He remained in custody Friday without bail, and was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in San Diego Superior Court.
Source: This post first appeared on sandiegouniontribune.com
