Downtown S.D. Shooting Leaves Three Wounded

Three people, two of whom had just left a Lions Club luncheon, were gunned down at a downtown intersection Tuesday in a drive-by shooting that police said apparently lacked a motive.

An armed 25-year-old man was arrested in connection with the shooting a short time later as he arrived at his Southeast San Diego home, said Dave Cohen, a spokesman for the San Diego Police Department.

Tuesday’s incident was the latest in a rash of drive-by shootings in San Diego this year. It differed from the others, however, because it was the first to encroach on the busy downtown area during daylight, and appeared to be neither gang- nor drug-related, police said.

‘No Apparent Motive’

“There’s no apparent motive for it, and that’s what makes it different,” police spokesman Bill Robinson said.

The victims were identified as art gallery owner Susan Snyder, 29, who was listed in good condition Tuesday night at Kaiser Permanente Hospital with a gunshot to the right calf; Robert Mengar, 59, an investment counselor who was also listed in good condition at Kaiser with a gunshot to the right calf, and Cynthia Conyiers, 37, a department store sales clerk who was listed in fair condition at UC San Diego Medical Center with gunshot wounds to the left calf, left thigh, left hand and right buttocks.

The three were shot as they walked near 4th Avenue and Market Street in the Gaslamp Quarter about 1:40 p.m., police said.

Mengar and Conyiers were among a group who stayed late to talk with former baseball star Steve Garvey after his address to about 120 people at a San Diego Lions Club meeting. During the meeting, held in the club’s retirement and low-income housing development at 310 Market St., former San Diego Charger Kellen Winslow was inducted as a member of the service organization, club President George Saadah said.

En Route to Car

Mengar and Conyiers were walking to their car when they were wounded.

“I looked through the window and . . . I saw Bob Mengar lying on the curbside and his girlfriend, Cindy, lying right in the middle of the street,” said Saadah, also the president of the local Crime Stoppers chapter.

He said the busy street erupted into chaos as club members and others rushed to summon police or aid the wounded.

Ken Buckner, a Marine Corps sergeant, was driving west on Market when he passed 4th Avenue seconds before the shooting.

“I heard five shots from a handgun and looked in my rear-view mirror,” Buckner said. “I saw a white car that looked like a Honda driving down 4th Avenue. I also saw one person fall on the ground. I stopped my car and ran over here to see if I could help.”

Another of those offering aid was Wayne Craw, the owner of a construction company that is building a structure at 3rd Avenue and Market. Craw said he rushed into the street and found Conyiers crying and moaning.

Mengar and Snyder were lying on the sidewalk a few feet away, Craw said.

Car Also Struck

One of the shots ricocheted off the street and struck a car parked at the southeastern corner of 4th and Market, shattering the window on the driver’s side and the back of the side-view mirror.

Mengar, owner of the RAM Investment Group, has been a member of the Lions Club since 1971, said Victoria Dwirig, the club’s executive secretary. He had worked as the vice president in charge of commodities for the ill-fated J. David investment firm, and is battling a form of leukemia, said fellow club member George Herrors.

Snyder, the owner of the Brushworks gallery at 425 Market, regularly went to a nearby market to buy cigarettes.

“She is a happy person, she was always smiling,” said Andy Hanna, part-owner of the market. “Even now, when they (paramedics) picked her up, she was smiling.”

Hanna said the shooting left him uneasy. “You are going to be walking down the street and you’re going to be looking around you, all day long.”

Shortly after the shooting Rolando Rosario Ignacio was arrested at his home in the 400 block of Bethany Court. Ignacio was later booked at County Jail downtown on suspicion of attempted murder.

The arrest occurred, in part, because of a tip provided by the National City Police Department. Witnesses in National City had reported that a man fired six shots into the air at El Toyon Park, 2200 E. 4th St., before taking off in a white car. They supplied police with the license number, which was broadcast to neighboring law enforcement agencies.

The Gaslamp Quarter shooting by a man in a white car occurred 20 minutes later. Witnesses to that incident were able to glean a partial license plate number, which matched the National City information.

Police traced the plate to Ignacio and rushed to his address, where they were waiting when he drove up in a white Ford Mustang. When he got out of the car he was carrying a .357 magnum revolver in a plastic bag, Cohen said. Spent shells were found the his car, Cohen said.

Times staff writers Richard A. Serrano and Leslie Wolf contributed to this story.