Witnesses Sought to Double Homicide in Car

Police are searching for leads in the deaths of Deon Fontaine Peterson and Joseph Anthony Ponder

The San Diego Police Department needs help identifying two women who may have witnessed a shooting that left two people dead inside a car.

Just after midnight on Nov. 1, Deon Fontaine Peterson, 28; Joseph Anthony Ponder, 26; and two others drove into a grocery store parking lot in the 5200 block of El Cajon Boulevard.

The driver stopped next to a group of people standing near a lightpole, and after they exchanged words, at least one man walked to the car and opened fire.

Peterson and Ponder suffered multiple gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead at the scene. A woman in the Nissan sedan was taken to the hosptial for non-life threatening injuries, and the fourth person was not injured.

Before police arrived, the shooting suspects had fled.

The SDPD released photos Friday of two women who they believe saw the killings.

The first is described as a light-skinned Samoan woman between 20 and 25 years old. She stands between 5-feet-5-inches and 5-feet-7-inches and weighs about 120 pounds. In the surveillance photos the woman had her curly hair pulled back in a busy pony tail and was wearing a black Raiders jacket.

The second potential witness is described as a Hispanic woman between 20 and 25 years old, standing about 5-feet-2-inches and weighing between 140 and 150 pounds. She had her hair in a bun and was wearing a white, v-neck, long-sleeved shirt and black sweat pants with an orange stripe in the photos.

If you know who the women are or anything about the suspects, call the SDPD homicide unit at 619-531-2293 or Crime Stoppers’ anonymous tip line at 888-580-8477.

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