The former San Marcos resident accused of killing six members of his estranged wife’s family has a chilling history of violence and threats, according to San Diego County court records.

Ronald Lee Haskell was arrested on capital murder charges in Spring, Texas Wednesday, suspected of fatally shooting four children, two adults and wounding a teenage girl there.

Just seven days before that, San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies were called to his mother Karla Haskell’s house in San Marcos – where Ronald also lived – to investigate reports of domestic violence.

According to a restraining order filed against her son, Ronald became angry with Karla for speaking to his estranged wife.

• READ: Suspect, Victims in Texas Family Massacre From San Diego: Report

He ordered his mother into the garage, where he grabbed a roll of duct tape, Karla says.

She screamed for help, but Ronald covered her mouth and pushed her inside, duct taping her wrists together and tying her arm to a computer chair, the restraining order says.

“While taped to the chair he yelled at me and twice placed his hands around my neck trying to choke me and caused me to pass out,” Karla wrote on the court document.

“He told me he was going to kill me, my family and any officer who stops him,” she added.

Ronald hid Karla’s phone, so she was not discovered for at least four hours, when her daughter returned home, according to the sheriff’s department.

• READ: Suspect Surrenders in Slayings of 4 Children, 2 Adults

Deputies responding to the scene took a description of the suspect and searched for him in areas he’s known to visit over the next few days, but their hunt came up empty.

They did not hear his name again until July 9, when it was tied to the shooting deaths of his former sister-in-law Katie Stay, her husband Stephen, two boys ages 4 and 14 and two girls ages 7 and 9.

In a separate restraining order filed last year, Ronald’s sister Chandra requested that the suspect be removed from the home owned by her parents due to his violent behavior.

Chandra alleged that Ronald grabbed her by the throat and threw her to the ground, knocking her back down several times as she tried to get up. During the Nov. 2013 attack, Chandra says Ronald elbowed her in the throat and punched her in the arm.

When her mother tried to intervene, her son threw her to the ground as well, the temporary restraining order says.

Ronald’s estranged wife says she also had a history of domestic violence with her husband, culminating in a protective order against him and filing for divorce last year, NBC News reported.

NBC 7 has removed this article after KMIR retracted the story.

San Diego police have charged a suspect in connection with the deadly attack of a 25-year-old man in downtown San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter last month.

According to the San Diego Police Department, Mahad A. Ahmed, 23, is now facing a murder charge in connection with this case. Police said Ahmed was already in custody on another matter when detectives linked him to the downtown killing.

On June 15, at around 1 a.m., victim Michael Beaver was found unconscious on a sidewalk in the 500 block of F Street, suffering from blunt force injuries to his upper torso. Beaver later died at a local hospital.

Investigators believed Beaver got into an altercation with a group of people, possibly two men and two women.

With Ahmed’s alleged connection to the killing, the case has now been turned over to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, the SDPD said.

The suspect is scheduled to be arraigned on July 14. 

The case remains under investigation and anyone with information should contact the SDPD Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers (888) 580-8477.
 

Robert Black uses a tablet computer so often, he owns three of them.  He even has a tablet attached to his steering wheel.

"It's with me 24 hours a day," said Black with Teq IQ, "It's with me all the time.

Black said he is more productive with a tablet.  He links to the internet using a MiFi connection and said it saves him time.

"It is just so convenient as opposed to launching a computer," said Black, "where a tablet you never have to turn it off.

Gurpreet Kaur, an industry analyst with San Diego-based Gap Intelligence, said tablets are smaller, cost half the price of a PC and are always available.

"I don't have to carry this big clunky machine or a big, giant desktop anymore," said Kaur, "I can have this small little thing, hold it in my hand and walk around the house."

Tablets like the iPad are also very easy for people to use.  Robert Black said nearly anyone can learn.

"You just push this little piece of software and then all of a sudden, everything you want is there," said Black.

The research company Gartner estimates tablets will outsell traditional PCs, including desktop and notebook computers, by 2015.  However, mobile phones will outsell them all combined.

In 2010 Apple CEO Steve Jobs predicted the tablet would pass the PC, but few people thought it would happen in just five years. 

A suspected leader of the Sinaloa Cartel arrived in San Diego Thursday after officials extradited him from the Netherlands, U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy announced.

Under heavy security, Jose Rodrigo Arechiga-Gamboa – also known as “Chino Antrax” – was flown from Amsterdam into the San Diego International Airport by U.S. Marshals and the Drug Enforcement Agency.

He was booked into federal custody on charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances intended for importation and conspiracy to import controlled substances. He is expected to be arraigned on those charges Friday.

• Read: Man Charged in Gaslamp Killing

Arechiga-Gamboa served as a bodyguard for the Sinaloa Cartel and the leader of an enforcement group called “Los Antrax,” according to documents supporting his extradition.

Authorities say in that position, Arechiga-Gamboa provided security for narcotics shipments and carried out other enforcement dealings. The suspected member rose to become a leader in the cartel’s highest levels, documents allege.

Ten days after a warrant was issued for his arrest and a federal grand jury indicted him, Arechiga-Gamboa was arrested by Dutch officials on Dec. 30, 2013 while flying from Mexico City to Amsterdam. He was traveling under the fake name “Norberto Sicairos-Garcia.”

Duffy says despite the suspect’s efforts to conceal his identity under significant plastic surgery, a fraudulent Mexican passport and attempting to alter fingerprints, U.S. law enforcement was able to confirm Arechiga-Gamboa’s identity through forensic techniques, though they did not specify what those techniques were.

• Read: Suspect, Victims in Texas Family Massacre From San Diego: Report

U.S. officials quickly requested local officials to unseal the indictment against Arechiga-Gamboa, and on May 28, 2014, a Dutch court ordered that the suspect be extradited to stand trial.
 

The man first in line to buy recreational pot in Washington state, lost his job over his purchase and then got it back after what his company calls a misunderstanding.

Mike Boyer, 30, took off work for the occasion and was the first person to legally buy marijuana Tuesday afternoon at the Spokane Green Leaf store in Spokane, Washington. After being spotted on the news by his boss, he was immediately ordered to take a drug test.

The company in question didn't know he took the day off and was under the impression that he showed up to work as a security guard under the influence of marijuana.

"We were not aware that he had taken the day off. He was scheduled to work, we saw him on TV that he was under the influence, and that caused us to start a process of screening," Vice President of Communications Stacey Burke told NBC News. "When we realized that he was not on assignment, we reinstated him. ... Pot is legal, and we know that."

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Boyer had waited in line overnight and was the first into the store, ahead of more than 70 others who were also lined up. His name even turned up in an Associated Press article.

“I wanted the title of being the first guy to buy legal marijuana in Spokane,'' Boyer told AP. “It only comes once in a lifetime.''

Boyer said he doesn't hold any ill will towards the company nor does he have any regrets

San Diego may have lost out on the chance to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, but it has made it to the final two contenders to host the 2017 America’s Cup, say several published reports.

San Diego Bay and the waters off the island nation of Bermuda were on the short list as potential courses for the yachting competition that was last here in 1995, said the America’s Cup Event Authority.

ACEA eliminated Chicago as a possible venue, but it could host World Series racing events in 2015 and 2016.

Russell Coutts, CEO of Oracle USA team, which captured the Cup last year, said he hoped to have a host city selected by the end of September.

• SEE: Caught on Tape: Giant Anchovy School Off La Jolla

San Diego, which also hosted the America’s Cup in 1992 and 1988, and has a long history of sending top teams to the competition, and notably won the race in 1987 when Dennis Conner and his Stars & Stripes recaptured the Cup in a series of races held off the coast of Fremantle, Australia.

The 35th America’s Cup would take place on San Diego Bay, instead of the Pacific Ocean where the two previous Cup races here took place.

Earlier this year, the Port of San Diego authorized its staffers to negotiate with ACEA for the use of the Broadway Pier and Pavilion, and the B Street Pier and Terminal for the event.

The Business Journal is the premier business publication in San Diego. Every day online and each Monday in print, the Business Journal reports on how local business operate and why businesses leaders make the decisions they do. Every story is a dose of insight into how to run a better, more efficient, more profitable business.

 A Mexican man wanted on murder charges for more than a decade was discovered in Southern California and handed over to Tijuana officials at a San Diego border crossing this week.

Maximiliano Moreno Contreras, 37, is accused of stabbing a man on April 16, 2001 in Mexicali, Baja California.

According to his arrest warrant, Moreno rode up to the victim, climbed out of the car and fatally stabbed the man over money he supposedly owed the suspect.

Officials received a break in the case earlier this month when Tijuana Police discovered Moreno was living in Mecca, a town in Riverside County.

There, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents found the suspect and arrested him Monday. ICE officials say Moreno told them he illegally entered the U.S. in February, and Department of Homeland Security records show he had been deported in 2005, 2010 and 2013.

Moreno was transferred to San Diego Tuesday and turned over to the Mexican Attorney General’s Office for prosecution.

Detectives are searching for two suspects accused of targeting elderly San Diegans with a lottery scam that has helped them steal thousands of dollars from their victims.

According to the San Diego Police Department, the scam involves and unknown man and woman who have tricked at least four victims, all of them elderly Hispanic females.

Here’s how it works: One of the suspects contacts a victim and tells them in Spanish that they have a winning lottery ticket worth millions of dollars. The suspect then tells the victim that they are an undocumented immigrant from Costa Rica and therefore cannot claim the lottery prize.

The second suspect then steps in, acting as a stranger, and offers to help by claiming the prize and paying the fake fees. The second suspect then convinces the victim to contribute money for the fees in exchange for a portion of the winnings.

In one case, investigators said the suspect actually drove the victim back to their home so they could get cash. While at the residence, the suspects stole cash and jewelry.

To date, the scammers have managed to steal $52,000 from their four victims. They remain at large.

On Wednesday, police released images of the male suspect in hopes of finally identifying him.

The man is described as Hispanic, 30 to 40 years old, 5-foot-3 to 5-foot-7, with a heavy build and light complexion. He has dark hair and speaks Spanish.

His female companion is described as Hispanic, 30 to 35 years old, 5-foot-3 to 5-foot-7 with a heavy build and light complexion. She has dark hair and also speaks Spanish.

Police said the suspect’s vehicles include an unknown-make white station wagon or SUV and an unknown-make, blue, four-door sedan.

Anyone with information on the identity of whereabouts of the suspects should contact the SDPD’s Elder Abuse Unit at (619) 446-1070 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.

A University of California San Diego student left for days in a windowless Drug Enforcement Administration holding cell said he just wants to know what really happened to him and how exactly he slipped through the cracks.

On April 25, 2012, Daniel Chong was discovered incoherent, delirious and suffering from kidney failure after spending nearly five days handcuffed in a DEA holding cell in San Diego without food or water.
Agents had somehow forgotten Chong was in the cell.

He spent at least two of those days in total darkness.

“It was an accident, but I just want to know how it happened,” Chong said at a news briefing alongside his attorneys Thursday.

Chong recounted those days he spent in that dark holding cell, struggling to get his voice heard.

“I would bang on doors trying to get their attention. After a while, you just think they’re just ignoring you anyway. They’re not going to let you out, you just look like a fool, or they’re going to get angry at you for making so much noise,” he recalled.

Chong said that at times, he stayed quiet because he didn’t know what else to do. He said he tried to put out “visual cues,” like putting shoelaces on the cell door, but gave up after a while because he felt as though the agents were just laughing at him.

Chong said he remembers hearing the voice of at least one male agent outside the door of the holding cell. He said he heard the voice right before the light in his cell was turned off. From then on, his windowless cell was completely dark, until a few days later when agents finally opened the door.

Chong said the moment the door swung open was a mix of emotions.

“I was very confused. As soon as I saw that [the agents] were also confused, I knew right away that it was an accident,” he explained. “It was more of a feeling of relief. The door finally opened. There was no better feeling than that.”

Chong said the agents began asking him who put him in the holding cell. He couldn’t answer and they called an ambulance.

“I was screaming, ‘I need two ambulances!’ I was really crazy – delirious,” said Chong.

He said the agents then threw him a bottle of water – the first he’d had in five days.

“As soon as I drank it, I felt the pain running through my body. Any movement was excruciating,” he recalled.

Chong was rushed to a hospital where he spent three days in the Intensive Care Unit. He has since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and consults with a doctor who normally treats veterans who have returned from battle.

Under a legal settlement, the U.S. government paid $4.1 million to Chong last year.

On Tuesday, officials investigating Chong’s case released a summarized report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that included some of the findings of the investigation.

Ultimately, the report said safety measures and procedures were either non-existent or ignored by federal agents.

The report found that four agents reported seeing or hearing Chong while he was in custody for several days but failed to act, telling investigators they didn’t think anything unusual.

"They assumed that whoever had placed Chong in the cell would return shortly to process him," the report stated.

Despite the release of the summarized information, Chong and his attorneys, Gene Iredale and Julia Yoo, are now calling for the release of the full report. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also supports them in their quest for the entire document.

“I completely understand and agree that it was a complete accident; there’s no malintent with it. But of course, I’m interested in what really happened – what exactly happened to me because of how inconceivable it is. I would like to know what happened,” said Chong.

Iredale said that by releasing the full report, officials can finally provide complete transparency and accountability for what happened to Chong.

“It appears to me that the fault lies primarily in the institutional lack of procedures that were designed to make sure somebody was responsible for that area,” said Iredale.

“Sunlight is the best disinfectant. That’s all we’re really calling for now. Not a head, not for anybody to lose their job – just to know what happened,” he added. “Just to be told the complete truth so that Daniel will know, so the public will know.”

Yoo said Chong’s case should force every law enforcement agency across the country to take a long, hard look at their practices and how they treat those in custody.

“What happened to Daniel is a reflection of a fundamental systemic failure so what we call on is a systemic solution to something like this,” said Yoo.

Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, of the ACLU, said the organization has filed a request with the Department of Justice for all of the records and reports related to Chong’s detention.

“What happened to Daniel was unacceptable,” Dooley-Sammuli. “It shows a staggering failure at every step of the way, from his placement in a holding cell to at least four officers noting and subsequently ignoring his presence in that holding cell.”

Both Iredale and Chong said they’re pleased with the results of the investigation, mainly the procedural changes that have been made by the DEA based on recommendations issued by the OIG.

A DEA spokesperson confirmed to NBC 7 that immediately following Chong's case, the agency initiated new procedures including routinely inspecting holding cells, assigning someone to monitor the holding area and maintaining an occupancy ledger for detainees. Cameras were also installed at the facility and the footage is now monitored.

Chong called those “positive changes” and added, “I don’t think it’s going to happen again – at least not in that facility.”

More than two years after the incident, Chong continues to live a quiet, modest life in San Diego.

He purchased a small condominium in the UTC area and is in the process of finishing his degree at UC San Diego. He expects to graduate later this year.

“I’m just trying to finish up school so that I can get on with my life,” he said, pausing. “I’m alive. I’m alive and well.”

Just days before pride celebrations in the Hillcrest neighborhood, two bars on University Avenue have received letters that one of the bars is calling hateful.

Flicks San Diego Gay Bar & Video Bar and Baja Betty’s received the letters, and now San Diego police are investigating, although they are not classifying it as a hate crime.

The letter, sent to the bars over the past couple weeks, is 15-pages long, much of it handwritten and signed by a man named “Ed.”

The letter compares the LGBT community to pedophiles, child molesters and rapists. Eddie Reynoso, Baja Betty’s marketing manager, said he didn’t think much of the letter when he first opened it until he realized it wasn’t an isolated occurrence.

That’s when Reynoso heard Micky’s, a gay club in West Hollywood, also received the letter signed by “Ed.”

"He wishes bad business upon the business and death upon the owners," Reynoso said.

The author doesn't make any specific threats against the businesses or staff, but San Diego police still took a report on the incident, but did not refer it to the FBI as a hate crime.

"We work closely with all our law enforcement partners on alleged hate,” said San Diego police Lt. Kevin Mayer. “The Department investigates and handles most local crimes involving such offenses." 

While the letters are disappointing, Reynoso said he's confident they won't rain on the upcoming parade.

"We've come a long way and this is a mindset 45 years old," he said.

The Pride of Hillcrest Block Party and Pride Parade are July 18 and July 19, respectively, and is an annual event in the uptown neighborhood that draws thousands.

Methodist Hospital in Merrillville, Indiana, was placed on lockdown early Friday morning after an elderly patient was fatally stabbed there and another body was discovered at a nearby home in Gary, officials said.

The hospital patient, 80-year-old Margarine Haywood, was stabbed in an assault at about 12:30 a.m. Officials conducting a well-being check later found her husband, 88-year-old James Haywood,
slain at the couple's home on the 1500 block of Hovey Street in Gary shortly after 3 a.m., police said.

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One man, described only as a man in his 40s, was located on the 3800 block of Carolina Street, was arrested, and was being questioned at the Gary Police Department. Authorities said the suspect knew both of the victims but did not elaborate.

"This is completely out of the ordinary and we do want to stress that although it seems as if this is some random act of violence. It is not," said Robert Wiley, the chief of detectives for the Merrillville Police Department.

It wasn't immediately known which victim was slain first. Gary Police Chief Wade Ingram said officials from the Lake County Coroner's Office were trying to make that determination.

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The hospital facility, on the 8700 block of Broadway, in Merrillville, was put on lockdown immediately after the stabbing. That lockdown was lifted shortly after 5 a.m.

"I can assure you that the hospital is secure. Everyone is safe. Staff and patients are safe, and that the hospital is operating as usual, business as usual," said Wright Alcorn, the hospital's vice president of operations.

The hospital lockdown is the second in as many days in the Chicago area. Mount Sinai Hospital, on Chicago's west side, was locked down Thursday morning after what a hospital spokesperson said was a "possible threat."

In El Cajon, there will be no extension of a sales tax hike put in place by voters 10 years ago.

The sales tax in the city will drop by a half cent next year.

In 2004, voters approved Proposition O to raise money to build new public safety buildings or fix aging facilities.

Over the past decade, city officials say the additional sales tax raised more than $100 million and helped in the building of Fire Station #8 and other city improvements.

The city council agreed not to ask residents for an extension of the half cent tax increase, since those projects are near completion.

Another severed arm was discovered in a Long Island yard Thursday, a day after one was found on a man's lawn in the same town, police say.

The arm found Thursday was in a yard near the residential area of Stewart Avenue and Cornell Street in Hempstead, about a half-mile from where a Webb Avenue homeowner found an arm he said appeared to have women's clothing attached to it Wednesday.

The arm was taken to the Nassau County medical examiner's office for examination. 

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Police are looking into whether the arms are related to to the discovery of a partially dismembered body in a municipal parking lot in Bay Shore on Tuesday. 

The remains discovered in the lot Tuesday were found by two people walking to the ferry on Fire Island.

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Hempstead, Nassau and Suffolk police are investigating. The NYPD is also assisting as they look into whether it's related to a case of a missing Brooklyn mother of four, according to law enforcement sources. 

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That woman, 27-year-old Chinelle LaToya Browne of Brownsville, was last seen at her home Saturday, according to police. 

Police said they discovered $76 million worth of marijuana when they pulled over a U-Haul truck driver who ran a red light in Bakersfield Wednesday.

Two officers could smell the marijuana during the Southern California traffic stop, Bakersfield Police Sgt. Joe Grubbs said. A police dog brought to the scene also alerted authorities.

When officers cut the lock on the truck, they discovered more than 6,700 pounds of packaged marijuana.

• Read: Man Fired Over Legal Pot Purchase Gets Job Back

The street value of the seized marijuana is estimated to be $76 million based on a sale price of $25 a gram, Grubbs told NBC. Low-grade marijuana typically sells for $5 to $10, but higher grade marijuana can go for as much as $40 a gram, he said.

"It's the largest in recent memory that anybody around here remembers," Grubbs said.

Grubbs said that the Bakersfield Police Department doesn’t usually track drug seizures by the size, but this was an exceptional amount. Grubbs added that the officers promptly destroyed the drugs.

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The 22-year-old truck driver and his 24-year-old passenger were booked into Kern County Jail on suspicion of possession and transportation of marijuana for sale and conspiracy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Padres got a run off of Clayton Kershaw, but not much more.

The Dodgers ace came into Thursday’s start with a 36 scoreless innings streak. He upped that to 41 innings before Chase Headley plopped a home run over the left-center field fence in the sixth inning to end the remarkable run of dominance.

Unfortunately, that was about all they could muster off the left-hander as Kershaw (11-2) scattered three hits while striking out 11 in a complete game as Los Angeles won 2-1 at Dodger Stadium.

It wasted another impressive performance from Cuban rookie Odrisamer Despaigne (2-1), who allowed just two runs on seven hits in seven innings.

It was the seventh home run of the year for Headley, who has come on strong after a slow start. The third baseman is 12 for his last 30 to push his season average up to .225 after wallowing well below the Mendoza Line for much of the first half of the season.

The Padres (40-52) lost first baseman Tommy Medica to a groin injury early in the game. He will beevaluated today. They also officially slated starter Tyson Ross to pitch on Sunday, meaning he won’t be available to appear in Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Minnesota.

Two men were arrested at a pizza restaurant and children’s play center in Orange County for allegedly using illegal drugs in the men's bathroom.

Officers found 28-year-old Collin Zborowski and 27-year-old Daniel Lubach together inside a closed stall in the process of smoking heroin at the Chuck E. Cheese's at 2300 Harbor. Blvd. in Costa Mesa Tuesday evening.

• Read: No Booze Detected in Kids Served at Restaurant

The men went to Chuck E. Cheese's to meet with a drug supplier, Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Patrick Wessel said.

Both men were arrested and Costa Mesa Police confiscated the drug paraphernalia and the heroin from them. They were both found to be under the influence of a controlled substance, Costa Mesa Police said.

Officers did not know whether the men had tried to sell drugs to other people at Chuck E. Cheese's.

• Read: Prostitute Killed Silicon Valley Exec With Heroin: Cops

Lubach was booked on misdemeanor charges and released on a written promise to appear. Zborowski was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance and other misdemeanor charges. Zboroski was taken to Orange County Jail and held on $20,000 bail.

Brittany Bade contributed to this report.

LeBron James on Friday told Sports Illustrated that he is returning home to the Cleveland Cavaliers after four years with the Miami Heat. The news immediately made #BackToCleveland, #TeamCavs, #imcominghome, #TheReverseDecision, #BandwagonFans and the like trending hashtags on Twitter as fans, pro-athletes, companies and sports media mavens voice a mix of support, humor and snark on social media.

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Even James jumped in the fray with his own tweet and Instagram photo. Scroll down to see what people are saying.