San Diego

A 27-year-old man was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on 34 charges, including one count of murder stemming from the execution-style shooting of a Taco Bell employee.

Calvin Lamott Cooper of Southeast San Diego will be arraigned in Superior Court Nov. 27, and he will be held without bail until that time.

Judge Howard H. Woodward ordered the trial after a two-day preliminary hearing in which a number of witnesses testified that Cooper committed crimes against them during a three-week crime rampage.

Lourdes Aquino, 34, the night manager of the Taco Bell restaurant at Federal Boulevard and Euclid Avenue, said that Cooper was with three accomplices in robbing the store on the night of Aug. 30.

After being forced to kneel by Cooper, Aquino testified that she heard a gunshot nearby and then saw the legs of her co-worker, 33-year-old Santos Nuno. Because she was kneeling with her head down, Aquino could not positively identify Cooper as the gunman.

An autopsy showed that Nuno was killed by a single bullet wound in the back of his head.

After the shooting, Aquino said, the robbers left. After waiting more than five minutes, she testified, she went to close the back door of the restaurant but was met there by Cooper.

Aquino testified that Cooper shot her in the left arm.

Two co-defendants were arrested last week. A 17-year-old male juvenile is in custody, and 18-year-old Heather Latrice Henley faces a preliminary hearing Dec. 2.