PALOMAR MOUNTAIN, Calif. (KGTV) — A 46-year-old man has been arrested in connection with two shootings on Palomar Mountain, including a 2025 attack in which a stargazer was shot in the arm after being asked if he was Mexican.
Ricardo Berron was booked on two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one hate crime charge. He was released after posting $100,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned March 17.
The San Diego County Sheriff's Office says a search warrant at Berron's Chula Vista home produced a 9mm handgun linked to at least one of the shootings.
In early October, Joseph, a 57-year-old man who asked us not to use his full name, was parked in a turnout about a half mile from the top of Palomar Mountain one evening when he dozed off. He woke up to metal banging on his window.
"I looked over my left shoulder, and I saw the silhouette of a man," Joseph said in an October interview. ”He was pointing a rifle at my head."
Joseph said the man then asked him a question before opening fire.
"He asked me either, are you Mexican or you Mexican?" Joseph said in an October interview. "And when I answered yes, I saw him. He zeroed in on my head."
Joseph said he turned his head as the man in the hoodie fired.
“There is no doubt he was aiming at my head. He wanted to kill me,” said Joseph.
With blood spurting from his right arm, Joseph fumbled for his keys with his left hand and drove away. Another bullet struck his car.
At the hospital, surgeons inserted a metal rod to help stabilize his shattered bone. Five months later, he is continuing physical therapy.
"Not a free movement, it's forced. Numbness and stinging along my arm,” Joseph said.
Joseph was also diagnosed with PTSD, living with nightmares and the constant worry that the shooter was still out there.
"There's always an uneasy feeling," Joseph said. "Makes you feel vulnerable. It could happen again."
It appears it did.
The Sheriff's Office says on Feb. 23, a man parked and stargazing near the mountain summit was approached by a man who fired a handgun into the driver's side window before fleeing. The driver was not injured. That incident, with a similar method of operation, led investigators to Berron's arrest on Tuesday.
For Joseph, the news brought both relief and resolve.
"Best news I could receive, almost had to pinch myself," Joseph said. "This person is extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous. To me, this arrest represents closure and healing. Horrible feeling when no closure."
He also described the lasting physical toll of the attack.
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