Spring Valley
A police informant testified Friday that he overheard Jesse Stuart tell another prisoner that he shot sheriff’s trainee Kelly Bazer and would do so again if given the chance.
Ramon Lopez, 37, said he was waiting to be taken from the County Jail in downtown San Diego to El Cajon Municipal Court on Jan. 15, two days after Bazer was killed in Spring Valley, when the conversation took place.
Lopez said he heard a prisoner who recognized Stuart ask, “Weren’t you the guy that shot the cop?” Lopez testified that Stuart replied, “Yeah, and I’d shoot (her) again.”
Lopez’s testimony came on the fourth day of a preliminary hearing for Stuart, 19, and two other Southeast San Diego men, Ronnie Williams, 20, and Prentice Byrd, 19, which is scheduled to continue Monday.
Before Lopez testified, two Sheriff’s Department detectives who separately took statements from Williams and Byrd testified that both admitted their involvement in the robbery of the Spring Valley Safeway store that preceded Bazer’s killing.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
