A 24-year-old man is in custody on suspicion of stabbing two University City residents inside their home on Sunday, April 6, and then fleeing to the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, where he was arrested the next day, police said.
Mark Lim went to his former girlfriend’s home in the 7200 block of Werner Street at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, but she wasn’t home, police said, so Lim allegedly stabbed her 71-year-old grandfather and 43-year-old mother and then ran.
“We believe it’s related to the break-up of Lim and the former girlfriend,” said Lt. Kevin Rooney, homicide detective with the San Diego Police Department. Rooney said police are not releasing the ex-girlfriend’s name.
An Phung, 71, died at the scene, according to police. Medics took the 43-year-old woman to a nearby hospital for surgery, Rooney said.
“She’s going to pull through,” he said.
Police searched for Lim, then brought in Criminal Intelligence Unit detectives and Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement agents who located him at Camp Pendleton, arrested him and booked him on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and several domestic violence charges, police said.
“He’s a former member of the military and he has friends in the military,” Rooney said.
The police utilized the CIU and Narcotic Enforcement agents because they have a special reserve unit used for hunting fugitives, but there wasn’t a drug angle, Rooney said.
According to Rooney, police presented their case to the District Attorney’s Office Tuesday and Lim was expected to be arraigned in court on Wednesday, as the Village News went to press.