{"id":10571,"date":"2025-10-18T00:16:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T00:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/10571\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T00:16:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T00:16:06","slug":"model-charged-with-murder-in-connection-with-ambush-style-shooting-near-utc-high-rise-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/10571\/","title":{"rendered":"Model charged with murder in connection with ambush-style shooting near UTC high rise \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

A social media influencer and model has been charged with murder in connection<\/a> with an ambush-style shooting that killed a Mexican national as he entered the parking garage of an upscale University City apartment complex last year, according to a complaint filed in San Diego Superior Court.<\/p>\n

Vanessa Gurrola, 32, was arrested by San Diego police on Oct. 9 and pleaded not guilty on Monday to murder in the death of Christian Espinoza Silver, according to a spokesperson for the District Attorney\u2019s Office. She is being held in Las Colinas Detention Facility in Santee without bail, and her next court appearance is set for next week.<\/p>\n

Espinoza, 35, was fatally shot<\/a> on Feb. 17, 2024, while entering the garage of Palisade UTC at Nobel Drive and Lombard Place in a BMW vehicle. A second passenger, an unidentified 39-year-old man, was wounded in the attack.<\/p>\n

Investigators at the time described the shooter as male, saying that a gunman approached the car and opened fire. The shooter, described as wearing a camouflage jacket, black pants and a black backpack, then fled the scene.<\/p>\n

Sources said at the time<\/a> that the shooting was believed to be linked to a remnant cell of the Arellano F\u00e9lix Organization, one of the drug groups fighting for control of Baja California.<\/p>\n

Espinoza, also known as \u201cEl Chato,\u201d was believed to be an associate of Edwin Huerta Nu\u00f1o, also known as \u201cEl Flaquito,\u201d who was arrested in Tijuana<\/a> in June, Mexican officials said.<\/p>\n

In August, Huerta Nu\u00f1o was extradited to San Diego<\/a> and indicted on federal charges related to the importation and distribution of methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine, as well as money laundering.<\/p>\n

Several Mexican media outlets reported<\/a> that Gurrola is a former beauty queen from the Mexican state of Sinaloa. An Instagram account with her name has 1.4 million followers.<\/p>\n

San Diego police did not answer questions Friday about Gurrola\u2019s arrest. No further information was released about the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A social media influencer and model has been charged with murder in connection with an ambush-style shooting that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[8350,138,181,23,100,74,76,75,1696],"class_list":{"0":"post-10571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-border-baja-california","9":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-san-diego-headlines","15":"tag-san-diego-news","16":"tag-top-stories-sdut"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}