A man was convicted this week of three counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of a young couple and a toddler inside a Normal Heights apartment nearly 25 years ago.
Sergio Lopez Contreras, 45, was found guilty by a San Diego jury of the Sept. 4, 2000, killings of Michael Plummer, 27; Plummer’s girlfriend, Adah Pearson, 18; and Plummer’s nephew, Julio Rangel Jr., who was about 22 months old.
Prosecutors allege Plummer was the intended target of the shooting because he didn’t pay Contreras for about $30 worth of methamphetamine.
Contreras, who was 22 years old at the time, fired 16 shots into the Bancroft Street apartment with a rifle, then fled the country, according to prosecutors. He was later arrested in Mexico and extradited to San Diego last year.
Deputy District Attorney Chris Lindberg said Contreras was incarcerated in Mexico for “the robbery and murder of a prominent doctor,” and Mexican authorities required that local prosecutors not seek the death penalty as a condition of his extradition.