SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - A man who allegedly shot and wounded two La Jolla residents, including his estranged wife's brother, at homes about a half-mile apart early Wednesday was arrested following a scuffle with the second victim, authorities reported.
Hans Petersen, 48, is suspected of opening fire into a home in the 5700 block of Waverly Drive about 3 a.m., wounding a 53-year-old man who had been awakened by the gunshots and got up to investigate, according to San Diego police.
The victim suffered a bullet wound to his upper body, SDPD public-affairs Lt. Kevin Mayer said.
Shortly before 7 a.m., more gunfire was reported in the 1400 block of Cottontail Lane, about a half-mile southwest of the site of the first shooting. There, police found a 50-year-old resident with a gunshot wound to his upper body and Petersen suffering from a head injury, Mayer said.
The victim, the suspect's brother-in-law, told officers that after being shot in the abdomen, he managed to wrest the gun away from the assailant and strike him over the head with it.
Medics took the gunshot victims, both of whom were expected to survive, to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. Police withheld their names, but neighbors identified the initial victim as UC San Diego researcher Steven Dowdy and the second as Mission Beach-based real estate agent and property investor Ron Fletcher.
Petersen was treated at the same hospital before being released and taken to downtown SDPD headquarters for questioning. He was expected to be booked into county jail later in the day, Mayer said.
Records show Dowdy and the alleged gunman were former neighbors and business partners in a now-bankrupt pharmaceutical company, Traversa Therapeutics.
Fletcher's estranged wife, Bonnie Fletcher, filed for divorce in 2012. Court records show the couple was involved in prolonged legal wrangling over the sale of two properties they owned in Pacific Beach. She had obtained a restraining order in 2012 and filed a declaration this year, claiming Hans Petersen authored a "death pact, which involves my murder and his suicide."
Two young girls were in Ron Fletcher's home at the time of the shooting, according to police. Neither was harmed, Mayer said.
