3 More Suspects Jailed In 2019 Bay Terraces Slaying

SAN DIEGO, CA — Three additional suspects were behind bars Thursday in connection with a suspected gang shooting that left a 20-year-old man mortally wounded in a Bay Terraces-area neighborhood 17 months ago.

Khristian Apan, 27, Daisy Diaz, 23, and Raymond Sandoval, 30, were arrested Wednesday for allegedly taking part in the slaying of 20-year-old Joaquin Ruiz of San Diego, according to police.

Three other suspects — Apan's 28-year-old brother, Ethan, 26-year-old Kevin Herrera of National Cit; and John Orozco, 26, of El Cajon — have pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the case.

Shortly after midnight on July 13, 2019, patrol officers responding to a report of a possible traffic accident found Ruiz unconscious and suffering from a gunshot wound to his upper body in a vehicle alongside the roadway in the 7000 block of Paradise Valley Road.

Paramedics took the victim to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

During an arraignment hearing for Ethan Apan and Herrera last month, a prosecutor alleged that the defendants drove alongside Ruiz's vehicle and opened fire on him with a semiautomatic rifle in retaliation for the slaying a week earlier of a gang associate of theirs.

Ethan Apan also faces charges in connection with a July 24, 2019, attempted murder and an alleged conspiracy to commit murder on Aug. 1 of that year, cases involving separate victims, according to police.

— City News Service