San Diego
Police have arrested a North Park man in the early Wednesday slaying of a 25-year-old newspaper distributor.
Homicide detectives believe the killing may have been the result of a fight over a woman.
Ronald Nichols, 26, was arrested shortly before noon after being questioned by homicide detectives at Mercy Hospital, where he was treated for stab wounds that he told police were inflicted by the same assailant who killed Scott Tucker.
Tucker and Nichols were both distributors for the San Diego Union and Tribune and longtime friends. Tucker, of East San Diego, was reportedly engaged to Nichols’ ex-girlfriend.
Tucker died of multiple stab wounds to the throat, chest and back suffered shortly after 4 a.m. in the parking lot of an El Cajon Boulevard liquor store, police said.
Police found Nichols lying next to Tucker with cuts on his legs and shoulder. Nichols told police that both he and Tucker were attacked by a tall man wearing a fatigue jacket. However, Nichols’ statement conflicted with accounts by witnesses, and detectives believe that no third person was involved.
A knife police believe was used in the killing was recovered from from the roof of the liquor store.
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