San Diego Offers Assurances After 2 Beach Shootings

After two weekend shootings at the city’s popular Mission Beach, city officials branded the suspect Monday as a coward and assured tourists that San Diego remains one of the safest big cities in the United States.

The shootings--which left a 22-year-old college student dead and a Swedish tourist wounded--were particularly threatening in a city whose economy depends on tourism and where many residents are confirmed beach lovers.

“I am both sickened and outraged by these atrocities,” said Councilman Byron Wear, who represents the area. “These were cowardly acts committed by individuals who can only be described as hoodlums.”

Police Chief David Bejarano, at a beachfront news conference, vowed that an arrest would be made.

He added: “We do a good job protecting our tourists.”

Although other cities, notably Miami and New York, have had high-profile crimes against tourists, San Diego has gained a reputation for safety.

The city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau emphasizes San Diego as a family-friendly vacation spot.

“We have been fortunate and blessed that visitor safety has not been an issue for those who travel here,” said a convention official, Sal Giametta, whose organization is seeking to help two Swedish tourists who were robbed before one was shot.

Bejarano said the suspect in both shootings is an African American male in his 20s, 6 feet tall, with a thin jawline beard. The suspect was in a group that may have included gang members, Bejarano said.

“We know someone out there has some information,” he said.

Wear said the City Council may need to revisit two controversial issues of the past: a curfew on beaches and an alcohol ban. City voters rejected an alcohol ban last year.

Although Mission Beach is known for rowdy late-night parties, where bonfires and beer-drinking are common, violent crime is rare.

Bejarano and Wear noted that Sunday morning’s outburst was the first violent crime in the beach area in a summer season nearing its midpoint.

The first incident occurred around 2:30 a.m. when 15 to 20 young men approached a group of college students who had a bonfire at the El Carmel Point section of Mission Beach.

A scuffle broke out when the college students felt the newcomers were attempting to steal their bicycles.

One student suffered a broken jaw and another, Paul Mefford, 22, a part-time bartender and graphic design student at San Diego State University, was fatally shot.

An hour later, the Swedish tourists were robbed at gunpoint a few hundred yards away, near the bathroom at the Belmont Park section of Mission Bay. The woman was shot in the ankle.

Word of the shootings spread rapidly Monday morning as local residents, tourists and others flocked to the beach.

“Man, somebody got killed here,” said Joe Klimko of Phoenix. “That kind of thing happens in other places, but not in San Diego.”