On July 30, 2023, at about 7:23 p.m., 35-year-old Marcelo Barajas Jr. was shot while walking on a sidewalk in the Chollas Creek neighborhood of San Diego, in the 3700 block of Altadena Avenue. Officers found Barajas lying in the street with an upper-body gunshot wound; he was taken to a local hospital but died shortly after arrival.

Investigators say a group of males approached Barajas and a brief verbal confrontation occurred before one individual produced a firearm and shot him. The assailants fled in a dark-colored vehicle. The San Diego Police Department Homicide Unit opened an investigation and on November 13, 2023, 20-year-old Kevin Castaneda was arrested at the San Ysidro Port of Entry while returning from Mexico and booked on suspicion of murder.

Friends and family remember Barajas as kind and compassionate; a memorial page has been created where people have left messages and lit candles. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. Did anyone in the Chollas Creek area see or hear anything that night?