Two arrested after string of shootings, carjackings across San Diego County

A man and woman were arrested Wednesday night, July 5, after allegedly committing a string of shootings, robberies and carjackings that kept officers and deputies busy across San Diego County, officials said.

(File photo)

The spree began Monday, July 3, about 3:40 a.m. when a man was carjacked in front of his home on Sigsbee Street in Barrio Logan, police said. A gunman approached the victim, took his phone, wallet and keys, and drove off in the man’s car — a white convertible.

Two days later, on Wednesday, a shooting was reported about 5:15 p.m. in Imperial Beach on Louden Lane near Imperial Beach Boulevard, San Diego police Officer Darius Jamsetjee said. Deputies responded and found a man had been shot in the leg. The suspect’s vehicle was described as a white convertible.

About an hour later, San Diego police officers responded to a shooting on Coban Street in the Valencia Park community, Jamsetjee said. No victims were found, but there were multiple shell casings on the ground. A white convertible was seen in the area.

While officers were investigating that shooting, an armed robbery was reported at a smoke shop on El Cajon Boulevard near 30th Street about 6:40 p.m., police said. The robber fled in a white convertible.

Six minutes later, San Diego Police and California Highway Patrol received calls about a rollover crash involving a white convertible on north Interstate 805 at Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, police said. At least one person suffered minor injuries in the crash.

About 10 minutes after that, police got a call about a burgundy sedan being stolen at gunpoint on Convoy Court just east of I-805 in Kearny Mesa, according to police.

Then, around 7:10 p.m., sheriff’s deputies responded to a crash involving a burgundy sedan in the Cardiff community near Nolbey Street and Villa Cardiff Drive, officials said. Another carjacking, this time of a white Ford Fusion, was reported soon after.

The victim told sheriff’s deputies that he and a Good Samaritan who witnessed the crime tried to follow the suspects — a man and a woman — in another car, but stopped after the man got out of the stolen Fusion and started shooting at them, officials said.

Several unoccupied vehicles were hit by the gunfire, but no one was injured.

Just after 8 p.m., deputies, assisted by a sheriff’s helicopter, located the suspects — a 26-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman — at an Encinitas gym on South El Camino Real near Encinitas Boulevard. Deputies also recovered a handgun and ammunition.

The pair was arrested and face a host of charges in connection with the alleged spree including attempted murder, carjacking and assault with a deadly weapon.

San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer Lyndsay Winkley contributed to this report.