Man Arrested at Border in Connection With San Ysidro Stabbing Death

Man Arrested at Border in Connection With San Ysidro Stabbing Death
A man in handcuffs in a file photo. (Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images)
City News Service
3/11/2023
Updated:
3/12/2023
0:00

SAN YSIDRO, Calif.—A man was taken into custody for allegedly stabbing a 42-year-old man to death near a San Ysidro gas station earlier this week, authorities said March 11.

Officers arrested Hector Alcantara, 32, of San Diego at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the San Ysidro Point of Entry pedestrian gate, at 720 E. San Ysidro Boulevard, according to a San Diego Police Department (SDPD) news release.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials told SDPD detectives that Alcantara had been detained, police said. He was being sought in connection with the death of Manuel Omar Rico Arellano of Mexico.

Alcantara was booked into the San Diego County Jail on suspicion of murder, police said.

Just after 2:20 a.m. Wednesday, police received a call about a man stabbed in the 300 block of East San Ysidro Boulevard.

Officers arrived and found the man with at least one stab wound to his chest. They performed lifesaving measures until paramedics took him to a hospital, where he died at 3:05 a.m., according to police.

Police say Arrellano was stabbed at a vacant building in the 100 block of Center Street before he walked to the gas station parking lot, “where he was found by concerned citizens.”

According to the police department, detectives learned Arrellano was with a group of people at the vacant building “when he was apparently stabbed by the suspect without provocation.”

Detectives identified Alcantara as a suspect who likely entered Mexico shortly after stabbing the victim, police said.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to call the SDPD Homicide Unit at 619-531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.