Clifford Ransom II, 54, was found unresponsive on the sidewalk beneath the Interstate 5 overpass along West 8th Street in National City just before 6 a.m. on September 27, 2025. What began as a welfare check quickly became a homicide investigation, and gun-violence records list him as killed by gunfire at that time and place.

Detectives worked the scene beneath the freeway as investigators searched for evidence and witnesses. Initial reports that morning noted no suspects, but by October 1, 2025, a 21-year-old man, Francisco Cervantes, was arrested and booked on suspicion of murder under Penal Code 187; a national gun-violence database recorded Cervantes as the arrested subject-suspect. Public appeals and agency updates established the basic timeline—discovery, identification, and an arrest—while investigative and legal questions remain to be resolved.

If anyone saw activity beneath the I-5 overpass on September 27 or has information about Clifford Ransom II’s last known movements, please come forward.