UPDATED: One of the victims has been identified as Lorenzo. And the local NBC affiliate spoke with the clerk who sold gas cans to the suspect.
NBC 7 spoke to a Hector Roman who told them he knew the burned victim as Lorenzo. He told the media that Lorenzo came by his store often, and would buy sandwiches, soups and candybars:
“I think it’s tragic. He’s a really humble guy. He never bugged anyone.“It’s kind of disgusting what happened to him. Who could do something like that to someone else and burn them.”
Also it has been reported that the suspect was recorded on a gas station surveillance camera just a few blocks from the Moreno Boulevard attack, allegedly buying things to lights a fire. A clerk named Elliot told NBC7 that the man in the surveillance video bought a gas can, one gallon of fuel, a lighter and gum, and added:
“This guy walked in and asked me if we have gas cans here and we do. So I kind of reached for one. He was kind of nervous and a fast talker so I made a joke with him. Kind of like, ‘you talk too fast’ but he was kind of looking at me funny.”
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There is a suspect in vicious attacks on three homeless men over the July 4th weekend – attacks that killed two – including one in Ocean Beach, and seriously injured a third.
The suspect – as yet unidentified – is in photos here. He is described as a white male, 40 to 50 years old, who was wearing a tan or brown jacket or sweatshirt, a green Army hat or baseball cap and tan khaki pants, and carrying a backpack.
Person of interest / suspect in the 3 grisly attacks on houseless men.
Here is what happened, as best as we can put together:
- About 8:06 a.m. Sunday, July 3rd, San Diego Police and Fire Department received a call of a fire in the 2700 block of Morena Boulevard, between northbound Interstate 5 and the train tracks. When firefighters extinguished the blaze, they discovered a badly burned body of a male adult.
Earlier in that day, witnesses reported seeing a man running from the area of the fire across the northbound lanes of I-5 to the center divide. And he was seen by a few witnesses carrying a gas can within two blocks of the burn site.
- Around 4:50 a.m. Monday, July 4th, a second man was found by police with near-fatal stab wounds close to the intersection of Greenwood and Kurtz streets. He is currently hospitalized with lifethreatening injuries.
- Then around 6 a.m., Monday, a third man was found near Robb Field in Ocean Beach by police after a 911 call dead with injuries to his upper torso. An early-morning park-goer had flagged down police near Robb Field on West Point Loma Boulevard and the officer then found the man, believed to be in his 50s or 60s, not breathing and with “a lot of trauma” to his upper body. Police also said that he homeless man was sleeping when he was attacked.
The three victims were believed to be houseless who all lived around Mission Bay. And none of the victims’ names have been released.
All three attacks were within a 25 hour period.
In an update on the cases, Captain Nisleit of the SDPD issued this:
“This person is only a person of interest at this time. Based on our evidence and based on the investigation as we are working through all three of these cases, we do believe all three of these cases are linked and one person is responsible for these two homicides and attack.”
“We have a person out there attacking victims that were sleeping. They weren’t doing anything wrong. This is obviously a very dangerous person. A person we want to remove from the community as fast as we can, so we are asking for the public’s help.”
Photos of the person of interest were released by police, and were taken at a convenience store near the scene of the first murder.
Anyone with information about the attacks is encouraged to call the police department at (619) 531-2346 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
News sources: SD Union-Tribune, CBS8 and Fox5
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