Ex-Hero Arrested in Alleged Slaying Plot : Crime: San Diego police are seeking a third suspect in shooting that wounded surgeon. Another suspect killed himself.

A former Marine hero has been arrested and San Diego police are searching for another suspect in the freeway shooting of an orthopedic surgeon that investigators believe was plotted by the surgeon’s former partner.

The case took a new turn Saturday when former Marine Ronald Gene Self, 28, surrendered and was booked on suspicion of possessing a silencer. Police seized the device Friday at the La Jolla guest house that Self rented from Dr. Ronald Neufeld, who committed suicide hours after the search.

Neufeld was a former medical partner of Dr. William Shoemaker, who was shot twice Tuesday as he drove to work on a San Diego freeway. He was recovering at home from chest and wrist wounds.

San Diego police homicide Detective Tim Muren, the lead investigator, confirmed that Self and Neufeld were suspects in the attempted slaying. (Self had not been booked on attempted murder charges Sunday, and was free on bail.)

“There is at least a third suspect” in the case, Muren said Sunday. He confirmed that at least two people were in the truck from which they believe shots were fired at Shoemaker. The truck, registered to Self, was later found outside a bar.

Muren refused to identify the third suspect.

As a corporal, Self was awarded the Marine Corps’ highest peacetime honor after he rescued 15 comrades from a burning helicopter that crashed in South Korea in 1989.

Authorities believe that the shooting may have stemmed from a bitter legal dispute between the two former partners. Neufeld sued Shoemaker, contending that his ex-partner had failed to repay a $100,000 promissory note and had stolen patients from Neufeld’s practice. Shoemaker countersued, claiming that Neufeld had misled him about his medical qualifications when they became partners.

Authorities also learned that Neufeld had taken out a $1-million life insurance policy on Shoemaker to secure repayment of the $100,000 note.