Pair Plead Not Guilty in Robbery Series That Included Shooting of Arizona Boy

Two San Diego men accused of shooting a 16-year-old Arizona boy in the head pleaded not guilty Tuesday to attempted murder and other charges.   

Alvaro Regalado, 19, and Juan Arriero, 20, were each ordered held in lieu of $1 million bail in the case involving Zach Lamb of Paradise Valley, AZ, who suffered a scalp wound near the Chico Club on El Cajon Boulevard.   

Deputy District Attorney Christine Israel told Judge David Szumowski in El Cajon Superior Court that the defendants went on a robbery spree with a shotgun and a handgun, holding up seven people in five separate robberies, including the robbery and shooting of the teen in La Mesa on June 27.

The prosecutor said Regalado is accused in a separate carjacking on June 7, and Arriero is accused of trying to hide the shotgun and allegedly made comments that he and Regalado were headed to Tijuana.   

La Mesa police Capt. Carlos Medero added details Tuesday on the case, but withheld some as well, including how the two suspects were tracked down.

However, Medero said one suspect didn’t snitch on the other, and La Mesa police were involved in the arrest of Regalado and Arriero on separate days at undisclosed addresses in southeast San Diego.

The investigation itself, he said, “was a team effort by the East County Gang Task Force, La Mesa PD, San Diego Sheriff’s Department and San Diego PD.”

Asked whether he was concerned that the boy’s name and location was publicized by Fox TV before the arrests were made, Madero said via email: “We (LMPD) did not release the boy’s name and location.”

Tuesday afternoon, Sharp Grossmont Hospital—where the Arizona boy had been treated and interviewed—said Lamb was not still listed as a patient.

Both Regalado and Arriero face life terms in prison if convicted, Israel said. A status conference was set for July 13 and a preliminary hearing for July 15.

City News Service contributed to this report.