A man already jailed on unrelated charges will be tried for murder over an Encanto-area gang killing that went unsolved for almost 15 years, authorities said Thursday.
Enrique Palomino, 37, is scheduled to be arraigned next week in connection with the death of 19-year-old Alexander Ceballos of Imperial Beach, gunned down behind the wheel of his car on Jan. 28, 2001, according to San Diego police.
Early that evening, Ceballos and friend Edgar Morgado visited a woman at a home on Merlin Drive, near 60th Street, according to investigators.
As Morgado was talking to the woman, her ex-boyfriend arrived, confronted him and got into an argument with him. Morgado decided to leave and was walking back to Ceballos' car when two youths standing nearby shouted out a gang name. Morgado turned and asked the pair, who appeared to be in their mid- to late teens, what they had said. One of them replied, "This is what's up," and started shooting, police said.
Morgado jumped into the car, wounded. Ceballos tried to drive away but was struck by gunfire and lost control of the vehicle, which crashed into a nearby building.
Ceballos died at a Hillcrest hospital three days later. Morgado survived his injuries.
Police were unable to identify any suspects in the slaying until recently, when cold-case detectives uncovered evidence allegedly linking Palomino to the shooting, SDPD Sgt. Manny Del Toro said.
Del Toro declined to reveal what led police to Palomino or disclose the suspect's alleged role in the homicide.
Palomino, who was jailed on a DUI charge at George Bailey Detention Facility in Otay Mesa when he was named as a suspect in the cold-case killing, is being held without bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
