Four arrested in fatal drive-by shooting of 14-year-old boy in San Diego

SAN DIEGO —  Three young adults and one juvenile were arrested in a Monday drive-by shooting in southeastern San Diego that left a 14-year-old boy dead, police said Tuesday.

The suspects were identified as Bryan Escobedo, 18, Ethan Peaslee-Guerrero, 19, Omar Morales, 18, and a 17-year-old whose name was not released because of his age, police said. All four were arrested on suspicion of murder.

Investigators determined the teen victim was headed south with a group on 36th Street near J Street in the Mount Hope neighborhood about 4:20 p.m. when a gray or silver SUV with several people inside drove by, San Diego homicide Lt. Jud Campbell said. At least one gunshot was fired from the vehicle, striking the victim. The vehicle sped off, but its license plate number was reported to police.

Officers recognized the plate number as it belonged to a Toyota Highlander that had been involved in an incident that occurred about an hour earlier.

Shortly after 3:30 p.m., San Diego Unified School District police asked city police officers to help them respond to a fight that had broken out down the street from San Diego High School, Campbell said. Several people in the large crowd that had formed around the fight were seen leaving in the Highlander.

Less than an hour after the fatal shooting, officers found the SUV — surrounded by a group of people — on Utah Street at Madison Avenue in North Park. Two suspects near the vehicle were arrested and the rest of the group fled, Campbell said. Another two suspects were found in a nearby apartment complex and were taken into custody without incident.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call investigators at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at (888) 580-8477.