Murrieta Police Nab Joseph Mehlenbacher In El Cerrito Slaying Of Kenneth Confer

San Diego CA

01 January, 2021

5:56 PM

Description

By Ken Stone, Times of San Diego December 31, 2020 An 18-year-old man sought in the fatal El Cerrito shooting was in San Diego Central Jail Thursday after being arrested by Murrieta police in Riverside County. Joseph Mehlenbacher faces murder charges in the Dec. 26 slaying of Kenneth Confer, 28, of San Diego, said San Diego police Lt. Andra Brown. At 11:03 p.m. that night, San Diego police received a 911 call regarding a possible shooting outside a residence in the 5700 block of El Cajon Boulevard, Brown said. "When patrol officers arrived on scene, they located a man on a second-floor landing with an apparent gunshot wound to his head," she said. "The officers moved the man to a safe location and began CPR." The victim eventually was transported to a local hospital for treatment. But he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the hospital. Investigators from the San Diego Police Homicide Unit were called to the scene. During the course of the investigation, detectives learned the victim had been in an altercation with a white male suspect who fled the scene, Brown said. On Wednesday, Mehlenbacher was found in the city of Murrieta and arrested without incident. The 6-foot, 175-pound suspect was booked into Central Jail at 1:24 p.m. Thursday on $3 million bail, records show. Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the SDPD Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. Times of San Diego is an independent online news site covering the San Diego metropolitan area. Our journalists report on politics, crime, business, sports, education, arts, the military and everyday life in San Diego. No subscription is required, and you can sign up for a free daily newsletter with a summary of the latest news.