Authorities offered a $9,000 reward Saturday, March 17 for information leading to the arrest of a man suspected of gunning down a romantic rival last month outside a Point Loma Heights workout center.
Ernesto Castellanos Martinez, 41, allegedly killed 27-year-old Alexander Mazin, of Pacific Beach, in a parking lot behind 24 Hour Fitness, 3675 Midway Drive, shortly before 11 a.m. Feb. 25, according to police.
Police soon identified Martinez as the suspected assailant and determined that he might have fled to an apartment in the 3000 block of Upas Street in North Park.
About an hour after the shooting, officers surrounded the residence and tried in vain to contact Martinez. Following a roughly six-hour standoff, a SWAT team forced entry to the apartment, discovering that the suspect was not there.
The victim’s parents told reporters their son had been going out with a woman that Martinez previously had dated and that the suspect had assaulted her several weeks prior to Mazin’s slaying.
Family and friends of Mazin have added $8,000 to a $1,000 reward in the case previously posted by San Diego County Crime Stoppers. Anyone who might be able to help investigators track down the suspect is asked to call the nonprofit agency at 888-580-8477. – City News Service