By Miriam Raftery

April 22, 2014 (Alpine)—Four suspects have been arrested in connection with the murder of Lakeside resident Kimberly Renee Hayes. According to Lt. Glenn Giannantonio with the Sheriff’s homicide unit, Hayes was murdered in an apartment in El Cajon on March 8; the next morning her body was dumped and set on fire on a dirty road off Sequan Truck Trail in Alpine.

Update:  The suspect has been identified by the Medical Examiner as Robert Deleon, 40, of Spring Valley.

April 21, 2014 (La Mesa ) – A SWAT standoff has ended in La Mesa, with the suspect dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, five hours after barricading himself into a local motel.

A SWAT team and armored vehicle were called to  La Mesa after a parolee fired a gunshot at U.S. Marshals attempting to serve him with a warrant at the Rodeway Inn this morning, according La Mesa Police. The Inn is located in the 4200 block of Spring Street near state Routes 94 and 125.  The public was urged to avoid the area.

By Miriam Raftery

April 19, 2014 (El Cajon ) – After a day and a half of deliberations, an El Cajon jury on Thursday found Iraqi immigrant Kassim Alhimidi guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Shaima Alawadi.

After the verdict was read, Alhimidi prayed and spoke in Arabic, professing, “I attest to God that I am not the killer. I’m innocent,”  ECM news partner 10 News reports. 

Family members showed outbursts of emotion, divided in their reactions.  The couple’s oldest son, Mohammed, rose and shouted profanities, exclaiming, “My dad is innocent, he was tried unfairly,” before being restrained and  escorted out of the courtroom.  But Mohammed’s brother, Ali, reportedly said he supports the verdict.

By Miriam Raftery

April 16, 2014 (El Cajon)—Yesterday the prosecution rested its case in the trial of Kassim Alhimidi, an Iraqi immigrant who is accused of murdering his wife, Shaima Alawadi.  Alhimidi’s fate now rests in the hands of a jury at the courthouse in El Cajon.

The killer repeatedly struck Alawadi in the head from behind while she was sitting at a computer in her El Cajon home in March 2012.  Police believe the murderer was someone  the victim knew and trusted, since she was not wearing her hijab, a traditional head scarf, during the attack.

Daughter told friend she saw a "white guy" fleeing murder scene

By Robert Clark

April 13, 2014 (El Cajon)--The trial of Kassim Alhimidi for the murder of his wife, Shaima Alawadi, in El Cajon District Court is winding down. According to Judge William McGrath, the case could go to the jury as early perhaps as April 15, following completion of presentation of evidence, his jury instructions, and closing arguments.

The prosecution rested at 10:06 a.m. on April 11, having presented 108 exhibits into evidence. The defense called four witnesses before court adjourned about 2:30 p.m.

April 11, 2014 (San Diego) – San Diego State University campus police have issued an alert warning studies that at 10:45 this morning, a female student reported that a man grabbed her buttocks from behind and asked her to come into a parking structure with him.  The incident occurred while the student was walking on Montezuma Road at East Campus Drive.  The victim continued walking and was not injured.

By Miriam Raftery

 J. Richmond also contributed to this ECM special report

Records obtained by ECM show longer response times in rural areas than urban communities; new substation won't increase staffing

April 10, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) -- Recently, Potrero resident Tarah Corey called 911 to report that someone in her area had been crying out and screaming for help and to send officers immediately. She was shocked to finally receive a call back from the Sheriff’s department 45 minutes later to check to see if the screaming had stopped, according to posts on the Mountain Empire Community Facebook page. While you would expect a quick response to such a dire and life-threatening situation, she learned the hard way in East County’s backcountry that’s not always the case.

Photo courtesy of ECM news partner 10 News

April 9, 2014 (San Diego) – Two East County men told police that several shots were fired at them while they were fishing in a canoe along the San Diego River near the Friars Road overpass on Monday . 

The men said they jumped into the water and swam to shore, dodging more bullets. They believe someone was intentionally aiming to harm them.

Photo: Surveillance video shows DMV employee accepting cash from license applicant.

Source: FBI http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/february/corruption-in-a-san-diego-motor-vehicle-office

February 25, 2014 (El Cajon) --You could call this scam a license to steal, and it certainly was—until it all came crashing down on the corrupt state employees and their accomplices who were selling California driver’s licenses for cash.

By Miriam Raftery

April 6, 2014 (San Diego)-- Lowe’s Home Centers have been ordered to  pay 18.1 million dollars to settle claims from San Diego and other California counties for illegally disposing of hazardous waste.

April 5, 2014 (San Diego) - April 6-12, 2014 is National Crime Victims’ Rights Week – a time for law enforcement, prosecutorial agencies, victim advocates and community members to come together and support victims of crime.

Update: The Sheriff's investigation has concluded that this death was a suicide. A man who took the gun, prompting a search, said he did so to prevent students from picking up the weapon.

By Leon Thompson and Miriam Raftery

Photos by Leon Thompson; video by Billy Ortiz

April 3, 2014 (Lakeside) -- High school students walking home from El capitan HIgh School today made a grisly discovery--finding the body of a man who had been shot in an alley behind a laundromat and the KK Market. 

"At first it looked staged, it was so unreal, as if we were watching a movie," Markise Carter (photo, below right), one of the students who found the body, told East County Magazine.  "Then I saw the blood was still running."  Markise said the victim, a young white male perhaps 18 to 25 years old, had a bloody hole in his chest and a puddle of blood in his lap. He was bleeding from his ears, nose and mouth.

March 29, 2014 (San Diego)—California Highway Patrol seeks public help to locate Daniel Castro, a local musician who failed to show up in court on charges of driving under the influence and causing an accident that caused the victim to lose her arm.

March 26, 2014 (El Cajon) – Back on the morning of September 1, 2007, Sheriff’s deputies responded to a  call at a home in the 1800 block of Hillsdale Drive in unincorporated El Cajon.  There they found Jerrad Fletcher lying face down in the living room with a gunshot wound in his back. He died at the scene.

March 24, 2014 (La Mesa)--On March 24 at 5:19 am, La Mesa Police were notified by Grossmont Hospital staff that a stab victim had just been brought into the hospital. Minutes before the hospital report, La Mesa Police received reports of a disturbance at a residence in the 3800 block of Murray Hill Drive, La Mesa.  When officers arrived on Murray Hill, they determined the two incidents were related and the stabbing was believed to be in self defense.