An 18-year-old was arrested on a murder charge in connection with a slaying in Southcrest seven months ago, the San Diego Police Department said Tuesday.
Raheem Malik Meals, 18, was arrested Friday on suspicion of murdering 20-year-old Ismail Abouabid on Jan. 15, according to police.
Police began investigating the homicide in the area of 4000 Boston Avenue after a 911 call around 11:50 a.m. that initially reported a possible vehicle collision. A man, later identified as Abouabid, was found in the driver's seat unconscious and bleeding from his head.
Abouabid, who had recently relocated to San Diego from Erie, Pennsylvania, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police were not releasing his cause of death or what led them to Meals.
"The mechanism for the (victim's) injury is not being released at this time,'' SDPD Lt. Matt Dobbs said Tuesday.
During the investigation, a witness told police they saw three young men, possibly teenagers, leaving the scene around the time of the 911 call. Witnesses said the three people were with Abouabid at some point and then walked away toward a nearby park, police said.
It was not clear if any other suspects were being sought in connection with Abouabid's death.
The 911 caller, Alicia Fuentes, told NBC 7 that she was walking with her 2-year-old child when she saw a parked gray sedan with the engine on and the driver unconscious and bleeding from his head with a gunshot wound. Fuentes also said the passenger window was shattered.
"I started crying because I never see too much blood," Fuentes told NBC 7. "The neighborhood is not too good, I hear a lot of police passing, but I never see something like this."
