SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A man who allegedly gunned down another man during an altercation in Lincoln Park pleaded not guilty today to a murder charge.
Michael Ortiz, 31, is accused in the Nov. 7 killing of 25-year-old Eziquio Ruiz-Saucedo of National City.
Ortiz faces 50 years to life in state prison if convicted of murder and an allegation of discharging a firearm in the killing.
Police received reports just after 9 that night of gunshots fired in the parking lot of a shopping center at 300 Euclid Avenue, SDPD Lt. Andra Brown said. According to the lieutenant, the men were involved in a physical fight and at some point, a handgun was brandished and both men were shot.
At Ortiz's arraignment, Deputy District Attorney Jeff Dort alleged that Ortiz brought a gun to ``what was probably going to be a fistfight.'' The prosecutor said Ortiz was shot with the same gun used to shoot the victim, but did not elaborate on how that occurred.
Ruiz-Saucedo died at the scene, and Ortiz was hospitalized with non- life-threatening injuries, police said.
Ortiz was being held on $1 million bail and his next court date is a Jan. 12 status conference.
