Soldier Shot While Allegedly Vandalizing Homes

A Lake Elsinore man allegedly chased down and shot a soldier home on leave from Iraq early Thursday, after catching him with a group toilet-papering his yard and other homes in the neighborhood. Aubrey Weldon, 34, a construction worker, was so angry about his Riverside County neighborhood being festooned with toilet paper that he chased down the group in his truck on the 29000 block of 3rd Street, started fighting with them and then pulled out a handgun and opened fire at 12:30 a.m., said Sgt. Earl Quinata of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

Army Spc. Daniel Alvarado Jr., 25, of Temecula was shot in the head and was in critical condition in Loma Linda Medical Center, authorities said. Robert Limon, 22, of Temecula was grazed by a bullet and was treated at another hospital.

Weldon was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and was booked into Southwest Detention Center, Quinata said. His bail has been set at $500,000.

Investigators were questioning others involved, and authorities said vandalism charges could be filed against those who toilet-papered the homes.

An Army spokesman said Alvarado is an active Army specialist with Charlie Company, 123rd Main Support Battalion. That battalion was in Iraq this summer. A Riverside County official said Alvarado was home on leave.

Michael Lombardi, who said he is Weldon’s best friend and owns the house where Weldon lives, defended his roommate.

“It’s a damn shame it had to turn out that way, but you have to protect what’s yours,� Lombardi said. “I’m not saying [Alvarado] got what he deserved. I hope he lives. I really do for my roommate’s benefit.... [But] don’t paint this rosy little picture of innocent little teens. The man lying in the [hospital] bed is 25 years old.�

He said Weldon’s bedroom was right next to the frontyard, which was heavily draped in toilet paper, and he could easily have been awakened by the noise or by Lombardi’s Rottweiler.

He said both he and Weldon had guns they used for target practice.

“My roommate made some ... poor decisions. On the flip side, he’s not going to watch those punks take over this neighborhood,� Lombardi said. “If he was an Army specialist, what the hell was he doing out here in the middle of the night toilet-papering houses in Lake Elsinore?�

Two other residents of the block, Billy Townson and Timmy True, said they were working out in their garage at midnight when they saw at least five people walking down the street. A couple of minutes later, they saw the group running and a vehicle chasing them. A short while later, they heard two gunshots.

Other residents in this working-class neighborhood 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles said they were surprised both by the shooting and the extent to which homes and yards had been vandalized.

“I don’t like the fact of anybody toilet-papering anybody’s house,� said Nathan Farnham, who lives across the street and a few houses down from Weldon. “There was quite a bit of damage done to three or four houses.�

Still, no one deserved to be shot over it, he said.

“I would have been upset, but I don’t think I would have taken it to that extreme,� he said.

Ingrid Wyatt, a spokeswoman for the Riverside County district attorney, said evidence from both the shooting and the vandalism would be carefully reviewed.

“We need to find out who did what, and then determine who was responsible for what, and then file charges appropriately,� said Wyatt.

A similar incident occurred two years ago in Buena Park, when a homeowner shot and killed a teenage neighbor who had stolen a Halloween decoration from his front porch. Pete T. Solomona was convicted of voluntary manslaughter by a jury that concluded the shooting was an accident, not murder.

Prosecutors had sought a second-degree murder verdict against Solomona, saying he shot his 17-year-old neighbor in a rage over having his plastic pumpkin stolen.

Wyatt stressed that residents should not respond to vandalism violently.

“If you see somebody vandalizing something ... if a crime is occurring, call your local law enforcement,� Wyatt said.

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Times staff writer Hugo Martin contributed to this report.