Death Penalty Sought in Killing

The man suspected of being the leader of a group that went on a violent crime rampage spanning San Diego County now faces charges that could send him to the gas chamber.

At an arraignment before Superior Court Judge Herbert J. Exarhos, prosecutors Wednesday filed a special circumstance allegation against Calvin Lamont Cooper, 27. If convicted of committing a murder during the course of a robbery, he could receive the death penalty.

Cooper is accused of 34 crimes, including 14 armed robberies with 22 victims and the murder of a Taco Bell employee who pleaded for his life before he was shot, execution-style.

Santos Nuno, 33, was gunned down Aug. 30 at the restaurant at Federal Boulevard and Euclid Avenue in East San Diego.

A survivor of the attack testified at Cooper’s preliminary hearing that he was the leader of a gang that broke into the Taco Bell after it had closed.

Although Lourdes Aquino did not see who shot Nuno because she had been ordered to keep her head down, she testified that Cooper shot her when she tried to leave the restaurant.

Another victim gave graphic testimony about being brutally gang-raped by Cooper and two other men who attacked her and her boyfriend while they were visiting San Diego.