By Gina Yarbrough
Fallbrook, CA–The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office has released the identity of a man killed in a shooting on February 10 at a nursery in North County.
The victim has been identified as 69-year-old Francisco Hernandez Mireles. The preliminary cause of death is a gunshot wound and the manner of death is homicide, San Diego Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant Chris Steffen stated in a news release.
A 76-year-old man was arrested last week in connection with the deadly shooting that killed one person, and injured three people at the Atkins Nursery, located in the 3100 Block of Reche Road in Fallbrook, authorities said.
The suspect was identified as Enrique Barajas Gutierrez. He was taken into custody at the scene of the shooting without incident and transported to the Fallbrook Sheriff’s Station for processing. He was later booked into the Vista Detention Facility for murder.
Investigators say the firearm used in the shootings was a .22 caliber rifle.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call, just before 3 p.m., of an assault with a firearm at the nursery.
As deputies arrived on the scene, they located two victims just outside of a barn on the property. The victims had apparent gunshot wounds to their upper torsos. One of the victims is a 35 to a 40-year-old woman. Gutierrez is believed to be the father of the female victim, according to Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant Chris Steffen.
“We are still identifying the relationship between Gutierrez and the other victims,” the Sheriff’s Department said.
Officers with the California Highway Patrol, Carlsbad, Escondido, and Oceanside Police Departments responded to the scene to assist deputies with the investigation.
Reche Road was closed for several hours between Old Highway 395 and Gird Road while authorities gathered evidence and talked to witnesses.
The motivation and circumstances are still under investigation.
