SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Three 19-year-olds answered to hate crime charges in court on Wednesday in connection with a September gel-pellet shooting in Hillcrest.
The three defendants each pleaded not guilty to six counts of battery. As the prosecution explained, each of those counts has a hate crime enhancement, which elevates what would be a misdemeanor to a felony.
“There really is no place for hate in our community,” said Abigail Dillon, Deputy District Attorney.
While police are still investigating several gel-pellet shootings in Hillcrest that have occurred in recent months, Dillon says these charges are for one specific incident that took place on Sept. 7 around 10 p.m. on University Avenue.
Police say the suspects were arrested with the help of license plate reading technology.
“These types of crimes are extremely harmful to victims because it doesn’t just harm the individual victims who are involved, but also it sends a message to every person who shares that targeted characteristic,” said Dillon.
10News also spoke with the teens' attorneys.
“I would just ask everyone to keep an open mind. Like we said, these are young men. We don’t know what the motivation behind this was,” said one defense attorney.
ABC 10News has covered several incidents in Hillcrest this year, including a gel-pellet shooting back in May that sent one man to the hospital with a serious eye injury.
“It was horror, just horrible the idea that someone could just pick on the community like that and attack us with intimidation but also violence…just a horrible feeling,” said Benjamin Nicholls, Executive Director, Hillcrest Business Association.
Some local businesses have been on edge ever since.
“Hillcrest community comes together when these sort of things happen and says we're not going to put up with this, and we're really excited that this police department is leaning into that and they're coming out to solve these crimes.”
On Wednesday, a judge ordered the defendants to stay away from the 300/400 block of University Avenue in Hillcrest. They are due back in court in December.
