Kidnaped SDSU Students Describe Death Threats

Four San Diego State University students testified in Municipal Court Thursday that they were kidnaped at gunpoint by two men who robbed them of $58.

The testimony, which came during a preliminary hearing for the two defendants, included descriptions of how the suspects pointed the gun at each victim and fired a shotgun blast through the door of a Mercedes-Benz belonging to the mother of one of the students.

After the 2-hour hearing, Municipal Judge Nicholas Kasimatis ordered the two men--Timothy Long and Terry Turner--to stand trial in Superior Court on charges of kidnaping for robbery, robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

Kasimatis also ordered the pair to remain in custody on $1-million bail pending their Dec. 28 arraignment.

Long, 19, is an unauthorized absentee from the dock landing ship Germantown, and Turner, 27, is a Los Angeles resident who also uses the name Bryan Tanner.

Each of the students testified that the group was abducted at gunpoint outside Etna’s Italian restaurant on El Cajon Boulevard during the early morning of Nov. 28.

Ryan Dinsmore, 18, testified during the hearing that Turner held a sawed-off shotgun to his head. Dinsmore said Turner directed the defendants to a college-area automated teller machine, where Dinsmore withdrew $40. After the students were driven to East San Diego, where a second shotgun was obtained, one of the victims said he could get more money at the campus. Erik Kaplan, 19, testified that he was accompanied by Long into the El Conquistador dormitory, where Kaplan got $17 from friends.

Police arrested Long as he left the dormitory, and Turner was taken into custody nearby after he ran from a police cruiser and tried to call a cab.