SAN DIEGO : Gesture Allegedly Led to I-805 Killing
The prosecutor in a freeway shooting death said Tuesday that the victim apparently was murdered solely because he made an obscene gesture to some gang members.
The first details in the death of 19-year-old Richard Gill came out during a Municipal Court hearing at which one of the three men accused of murder attempted to have his bail reduced.
Judge Harvey Hiber refused to lower a $1-million bail for 24-year-old David Soliz, who faces murder charges along with two brothers in the Aug. 26, 1990, attack on Interstate 805.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Garland Peed said in court that Gill “flipped off” the defendants after they flashed gang signs at him while their two vehicles were traveling south on 40th Street. The gang members then followed Gill and fired two blasts from a sawed-off shotgun as he entered the freeway, Peed said.
“One of the shotgun blasts tore off the top of his head,” Peed said.
Gill’s truck careened into the center divider of the freeway and rolled, nearly to California 94, before stopping. Gill’s father witnessed the shooting from another vehicle traveling behind his son’s.
Soliz, as well as Edward and Ramon Estrada, is scheduled to go on trial Aug. 24.
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