Firefighters were busy in rural areas of the county yesterday after three small brush fires sparked in Bonsall, Fallbrook and in the backcountry near Ranchita.
The first fire, started by a car, was reported about 9:15 a.m. near San Felipe Road and Montezuma Valley Road east of Lake Henshaw and north of Julian. Cal Fire crews and volunteer firefighters from Ranchita quickly extinguished the quarter-acre fire, said Larry Craig, a dispatcher with Cal Fire.
A brush fire in Fallbrook off Olive Hill Road was called in just before 1 p.m. The fire burned less than two acres, Craig said. Its cause is under investigation.
A third brush fire, reported about 2:15 p.m. at 32010 Caminito Quieto in Bonsall, burned six acres but no structures before being extinguished by Cal Fire crews, Craig said. Its cause is under investigation.
–B.L.
Man carrying shoe box robs City Heights market
SAN DIEGO: A man carrying a threatening note in a shoe box robbed an Albertsons supermarket on University Avenue near 44th Street in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego yesterday afternoon.
The robber presented a cashier with a note in a shoe box demanding that the cashier give him all the money in the cash drawer or risk being killed, San Diego police said. Police were called just before 4 p.m. The robber fled on foot with an unknown amount of cash.
The man, described as having a shaved head and light facial hair, was last seen boarding a westbound bus on University. Officers boarded and inspected a bus but did not find the robber, a San Diego police spokesman said.
–L.B.
Evidence from search inadmissible, judge says
EAST COUNTY COURTS: Guns, ammunition and cash seized in an improper traffic search can't be used as evidence in the trial of a Lakeside man charged with killing his real estate agent, a judge ruled Friday.
Michael Ray Jennison, 38, is charged with murder in the Feb. 1, 2007, slaying of real estate agent James Magot in a Lakeside condominium Jennison inherited from his grandmother.
The effect of the ruling by Judge Allan J. Preckel to exclude evidence is unclear because defense lawyer Brian White told the judge “there's no dispute Mr. Jennison shot Mr. Magot with a handgun.”
Magot, 64, died of two shots to the head. A neighbor testified at an October hearing that he saw Jennison shoot Magot after an argument over the sale of the condominium.
At issue during the trial will be Jennison's state of mind at the time of the shooting and how that affected his actions, White said.
The evidence the judge excluded was seized by Arizona sheriff's deputies when they stopped and arrested Jennison near Globe, Ariz. Preckel ruled last week that deputies had no probable cause to search Jennison's car or clothing because there was no evidence that he violated traffic laws.
–R.H.
Staff writers Bruce Lieberman, Leslie Berestein and Ray Huard contributed to this report.
