EL CAJON, Calif. (CNS) - At least one man remained in custody Wednesday on suspicion of murder after El Cajon detectives arrested three young men in the apparent gang-related stabbing death of a 19-year-old El Cajon man.
Those arrested in connection to the Dec. 12 slaying of Kyle Khamphan were Francisco Gabriel Meza and Luis Mondragon, both 18, and an unidentified 17-year-old, El Cajon police Lt. Rob Ransweiler said.
Meza remained jailed Wednesday on suspicion of first-degree murder and was tentatively scheduled to be arraigned Thursday, according to jail records. Mondragon no longer appeared as an inmate in online jail records, but it was unclear why. The 17-year-old, whose name was not released, was arrested on "homicide-related charges."
Khamphan arrived dead in a private vehicle at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa last Tuesday night following a fight in the 700 block of East Park Avenue in El Cajon, police said. When officers arrived at the scene of that fight, all combatants had fled, but officers later located an injured 17-year-old who was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Detectives launched a homicide investigation about 8:20 that night when Khamphan arrived at the La Mesa hospital having already died from stab wounds to his upper body. Police believed the fight and stabbings were gang-related.
The detectives tracked down Mondragon late Monday morning, pulling over a sedan, arresting him and detaining a woman on the shoulder of state Route 125 near Grossmont Boulevard in La Mesa, Ransweiler said. Mondragon was "wanted in connection to the ... stabbing death of Khamphan and the attempted murder of a juvenile victim."
"Detectives worked throughout the day (Monday) and into the evening, serving multiple search warrants as they looked for evidence of the crime and the other two suspects," Ransweiler said.
That effort resulted in the arrests of Meza and the unidentified 17-year-old.
Meza is tentatively scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the El Cajon Courthouse. Detectives believe all suspects in the stabbings have been arrested but asked anyone with information about the case to call the police department's investigations division at (619) 579-3320.
