OCEANSIDE — A man wanted for homicide in San Bernardino County was arrested in Oceanside on suspicion of attacking a 44-year-old woman outside her home, then breaking into a separate Oceanside apartment, police said today.
Dispatchers received reports of a burglary in progress shortly before 6:25 p.m. Thursday in the 500 block of Greenbrier Drive, Oceanside police spokesman Tom Bussey said.
The resident told dispatchers he saw a man run from his apartment and responding officers spotted a man matching the description walk into a nearby Big Lots store, Bussey said.
The man, later identified as Caleb Mendez, was arrested on suspicion of burglary and investigators determined he was also wanted on suspicion of homicide in Upland in San Bernardino County.
Mendez allegedly killed a 40-year-old woman at a business complex in the 800 block of West Ninth Street in Upland Thursday morning, according to the Upland Police Department.
Investigators also determined Mendez matched the description of a suspect who had assaulted a 44-year-old woman shortly before 6 p.m. Thursday outside her residence on Greenbrier Drive, Bussey said.
The victim from that assault was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla for treatment of major head trauma. An update on her condition was not immediately available.
