Police arrest 72-year-old in City Heights shooting of unhoused man

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Police have arrested a man in connection to the fatal shooting of an unhoused man in a City Heights alley earlier this week.

San Diego Police arrested 72-year-old Keith Rose, who lives across the street from where the shooting took place last Tuesday. The police department on Saturday also identified the victim as 52-year-old Mark Edward Tome, of San Diego, who is believed to be unhoused.

San Diego Police officers were flagged down after gunshots were heard near 43rd Street and Polk Avenue in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego around 11:55 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 23, the police department reports. When officers arrived, they found Tome with at least one gunshot wound in the alley of 43rd Street between University and Polk avenues.

Tome was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police initially detained a person of interest they believed was connected to the shooting, who has since been released pending additional investigation after being interviewed by detectives, police report. Detectives were able to identify Rose as the suspect and arrested him on Friday around 11:40 a.m. in the area of the 4800 block of Filipo Street in the Rolando Village neighborhood.

During the initial investigation, homicide detectives found Tome was involved in an altercation with another man in the alley prior to the gunshots being fired. Police say Tome lives across the street from where the shooting took place. The relationship between the two men is not known by police at this time.

Anyone with more information is asked to call the Homicide Unit at 619-531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.