NBC 7’s Dave Summers tracked down video of a man Oceanside police are calling a “person of interest” in at least one of two murders of homeless men.
There's new video and information about a man Oceanside police are calling a suspect in at least one of two murders of homeless men earlier this month. Investigators have not connected the crimes, but they say they're very similar and might have happened on the same day.
The Oceanside Police Department said it doesn't know the suspect's name, where he lives or even whether he has a place to stay, but he left a lasting impression on Harbor Liquor store manager Kerollos Iskandar.
“I told him, 'Just leave it, and go ahead.' He told me, 'No, I am going to take it,'" Iskandar said.
Some of the video comes from Harbor Liquor store’s surveillance cameras, and some come from Iskandar’s cellphone. He said the man in the video arguing with him was attempting to steal two bottles of Gatorade.
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“'Hey, you are racist,' some stuff like that. I told him, 'I’m not racist. Just get out of here. It’s my store.' He came back and told me, 'Hey, I will get you one day,'" Iskandar said.
Oceanside police used Iskandar’s videos to create still pictures. The pictures were released on Tuesday with the request for the public’s help identifying him.
The encounter with Iskandar was two days before investigators say two men of Oceanside’s homeless community were bludgeoned to death.
For now, the police say the suspectis connected to the brutal murder of a 65-year-old homeless man. Police said earlier he was killed near the 200 block of Oceanside Boulevard. The area was more specifically identified Tuesday as closer to 1300 South Myers Street.
Investigators say the man’s body was found on Oct. 5 by homeless people who stay in Buccaneer Park. It is about a quarter mile from the park between the water treatment plant and the railroad tracks.
Oceanside police are now identifying a second homeless murder victim as a 60-year-old man. He was also bludgeoned to death in a similar manner. His body was found on Oct. 6 along the San Luis Rey bike path.
Jason Burnley says it was his friend that discovered the body and that his friend said the victim had been there two to three days but was afraid to report it to police. Burnley says he did.
“They can call me a snitch or whatever, but guess what? There comes a time to do the right thing. When it’s something like this that is somebody’s child,” Burnley said.
While the exact time of death in both cases is not known, further investigation makes police believe both murders did happen on the same day: Oct. 4.
Also that day, Iskandar says he got a return visit from the man who threatened revenge.
"'Hey, do you remember me?' I told him no and entered the store. After that, he disappeared,” Iskandar said.
Police say the man, their suspect, was last seen at 3:40 that afternoon getting on a northbound Amtrak train.
The OPD says the man was recorded on several surveillance cameras around town, and one of them at the South Myers Street homicide. Investigators say in each of the videos, the man was wearing the same clothes.
Oceanside police said on Thursday that they don't believe that the suspect in the killing was connected to a third recent attack, in which a homeless man who was stabbed Sept. 18.
