Two Sought in Shooting and Robbery of Worker in Rainbow

A Rainbow nursery worker was in stable condition at Palomar Memorial Hospital after he was shot in the side during a robbery Sunday morning.

Police are also investigating whether other migrant workers in the area were robbed by a pair of suspects wanted in connection with the shooting of 26-year-old Pablo Arellano, a laborer who was shot while in his makeshift hut behind Flynn’s Nursery in the 2500 block of Rainbow Valley Road about 9:30 a.m.

Arellano was taken by helicopter to Palomar Memorial, where he was listed in stable condition Sunday night after undergoing emergency surgery.

Arellano and a friend were accosted in Arellano’s hut by two men, one of whom demanded money and then shot Arellano without provocation, according to a San Diego County Sheriff’s Department spokesman. An unknown amount of money was taken.

The suspects were described as two white males. One was about 6 feet tall, weighing 140 pounds, with shoulder-length blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a red jacket and blue jeans. The other was about 5-foot-2, and weighed 135 pounds, with a skinhead and blue eyes.