Solomon Guerrero is accused of using his bare hands to kill a man in Hillcrest over the weekend.
San Diego police on Tuesday identified a man who died in Hillcrest over the weekend, as information about both the victim and his suspected killer is beginning to come to light.
Solomon Guerrero, 55, is accused of killing a 61-year-old Jerry Puerile with his bare hands on Saturday on Washington Street near a Shell gas station at 4th Avenue, according to the San Diego Police Department.
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SIGN UP Dispatchers got a 911 call from witnesses on Saturday at about 4:54 p.m., who reported seeing a man strangling the victim and hitting his head in front of a service station on the north side of Washington Street.
When officers arrived, Puerile was found unconscious in front of the business. Although paramedics treated him at the scene and he was taken to a nearby hospital, he didn't survive, police said.
Soon after, police arrested Guerrero a short distance away near the intersection of Washington and Albatross streets, based on a description provided by witnesses, according to law enforcement.
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Guerrero, who is being held without bail, is due in superior court downtown on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. for an arraignment.
Prior attacks in same area
Sadly, the brutal attack is not the first in the area, which is located near multiple hospitals and is a spot homeless people are frequently seen: In January of 2017, a 66-year-old woman was standing outside the CVS catty-corner from where the victim was killed Saturday when a man walked up behind her and put his arm around her neck in a choke hold and cut her neck.
In 2020, Shawn Timothy Puzzo, who was a transient, was also stabbed and beaten to death a few blocks away at Front and Washington streets by two other homeless men.
And in 2007, a couple walking by the same CVS were stabbed by a total stranger, also in broad daylight. Jared Jacobson, then 32, was on parole for assaulting a police officer at the time of the attack. During the trial, Deputy District Attorney Melissa Vasel told jurors the defendant came up behind the couple to attack them, then sat on the curb and watched them bleed. After his arrest, she said Jacobson told police, "It's so easy to shank people," and, "It went in like butter."
Anyone with information about the killing is being urged to call SDPD at 619-531-2293. Tips can also be called in anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
