In court, Guerrero wore a surgical mask due to some kind of illness.
One Homeless Victim Asked Him ‘Why?’ Guerrero Replied, “Because You’re a Bum.”
Jon David Guerrero, 42, pleaded guilty Monday, Jan. 27, to murdering four homeless men during a grisly serial killing spree in 2016 – including the horrific murder of an Ocean Beach man, Shawn Mitchell Longley. Four of the sleeping, homeless men were stabbed to death with rail spikes and two of those were set on fire.
Guerrero also pleaded guilty to five counts of assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of arson. He agreed to be sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole and an additional 143 years to life in prison. This will occur on May 1. The charges stem from his attacks on 12 men and one woman over six months between February and July 2016.
Guerrero is diagnosed with schizophrenia, and he had been treated at Patton State Hospital, then returned to court where he was recently pronounced mentally competent in order to stand trial. He has a history of arrests and mental competency hearings.
So, why did Guerrero do it – besides his mental issues? His first victim – who survived a knife attack by Guerrero – asked him, ‘Why did you do this to me?’
Guerrero replied, “Because you’re a bum.”
Due to some quick and excellent San Diego Police work, Guerrero was arrested just two hours after attacking his final victim on July 15, 2016. And when the officers searched his backpack, they found rail spikes and a mallet. He carried several identification and credit cards from two of the earlier victims who died. Police found more railroad spikes, a bucket of rocks, and ties in his apartment. Diagnosed with schizophrenia at 22, Guerrero has a history of criminal cases in San Diego that go back 10 years, from 1999 to 2009, as well as mental health cases filed in 2008, 2009 and 2011.
Shawn Mitchell Longley, OB victim of serial killer.
Guerrero, from Coronado, began his spree:
- on February 8, 2016 – he stabbed a man sleeping on a sidewalk, who did survive;
- on July 3, 2016, Guerrero doused Angelo DeNardo, 53, with gasoline and set him on fire, killing him;
- on July 4, 2016 – the very next day, Guerrero killed Ocean Beach homeless man, 41-year-old Shawn Mitchell Longley; he was found stabbed to death with a railroad spike at a park in Ocean Beach. Reportedly, Longley’s eyes and face had been spiked with a sharp object and his skull crushed by a heavy rock;
- Also on July 4, Guerrero attacked Manuel Nunez Mason, 61; Mason survived but was permanently blinded after a railroad spike was driven into his sinus cavity;
- On July 6, Dionicio Derek Vahidy, 23, was mortally injured while sleeping by Guerrero when he dropped a burning towel on the victim’s face; the victim was homeless in downtown San Diego, and died died in a hospital four days later.
- on July 16, 2016, Guerrero attacked 83-year-old Molly Simmons by striking her on the head on her way to volunteer at a YMCA; she died of her injuries three weeks later. Detectives said the woman was not homeless and lived with her husband;
- on July 15, Guerrero attacked his fifth and final victim, Michael Papadelis, on July 15. Papdelis was found with ‘significant trauma’ to his upper body and a railroad spike lying next to him as he called for help. Two hours later, Guerrero was arrested.
Hopefully, this is the end to this grisly, horrific, terrible chapter in San Diego’s modern history, the close of a chapter where San Diego and OB homeless people were terrorized for six months.
However unfortunate, this case demonstrates that persons who have mental issues but who can manage to harm others, can take on the attitude of official society and even the attitude of local townspeople who disparage homeless people and call them “bums” – and worse.
“Because you’re a bum!” Guerrero told his victim. Where did he get that?
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