Hickman Field Kidnapping and Arrest of Ira Stringer
SDPD PR
On 12/23/15, at approximately 1000 hours, an adult male was talking to one of his juvenile baseball students in the parking lot at Hickman Field, a ballpark located at 5100 Hickman Field Drive, San Diego. They were approached by the suspect and asked them for a cigarette. They told the suspect they did not have one. The suspect then produced a silver revolver and pointed it at the victims. The suspect ordered them both into the adult victim’s car and to drive off. The adult victim drove, the juvenile victim was in the front passenger’s seat and the suspect sat in the back seat with the gun leveled on the victims.
The suspect directed them towards Ramona. Along the way the adult victim offered the suspect the money inside his glove box. The suspect said that he would take the money and his car, but first he needed to get out of the area and get to his destination.
During the drive the suspect took the adult victim’s iPhone and started using it. The suspect pretended to be on the phone with someone checking on an address so the victims would think he had others assisting him. The adult victim grew fearful for his life and the juvenile’s life, thinking the suspect would take the two of them to a location and kill them so the adult victim decided to attempt to take the gun from the suspect. While driving, the adult victim reached back and grabbed for the suspect’s gun and they wrestled for the gun. During the fight over the gun, the adult victim lost control of the car and crashed into another vehicle near San Vicente and Warnock Roads in Ramona. During the struggle the gun went off twice inside the car striking the roof. The adult victim was able to wrestle the gun away from the suspect.
Right after the crash, which occurred at about 1030 hours, the juvenile victim jumped out of the vehicle and ran to a passing motorist and asked for assistance. The motorist let the juvenile victim in the car and they drove off, subsequently driving to the San Diego Sheriff Department’s Ramona Substation.
Meanwhile, the adult victim and the suspect both exited the crashed vehicle. The adult victim ran to a different passing vehicle and asked for assistance. As he was doing that, the suspect approached him. The adult victim, fearing for his life shot at the suspect’s feet twice. This deterred the suspect’s actions and the suspect ran up to another stopped car driven by an elderly female. He got in and demanded her to drive off. The suspect told the elderly female he had a gun. She drove the suspect to Main Street in Ramona and he told her to stop the car and get out. She complied and the suspect drove off in her car.
SDPD was notified of the incident and Eastern Division officers and SDPD Robbery Unit began the investigation.
At about 1530 hours, the elderly female victim’s car was located by SDPD Detectives parked at Barona Casino. SDSO Detectives went to the Barona Casino Security and viewed video surveillance. Investigators conducted follow up and developed leads which led to identifying the suspect as Ira Stringer. A BOL was issued on Stringer.
Following is the case synopsis of the Lemon Grove robbery:
On December 26, 2015, at 2100 hours, an unknown suspect entered the AM/PM store located 2717 Lemon Grove Avenue in the city of Lemon Grove. After only being at the store for a short period, the suspect went to his vehicle, retrieved a shotgun, walked back to the store and demanded that the clerk fill up the suspect’s vehicle with gasoline. While demanding the gasoline, the suspect pointed the shotgun and threatened to kill the clerk if he did not do what he was told. While holding the gun to the clerk, the suspect and the clerk walked outside to the suspect’s vehicle and clerk pumped the gasoline. Once the gasoline pump was hooked up to the suspect’s vehicle, the clerk walked back into the store. The suspect then released the pump, got back inside of the vehicle and left northbound on Lemon Grove Avenue.
After reviewing video surveillance, the suspect was described as a white male adult, in his 40’s with short dark hair. The suspect wore a gray long sleeve fleece sweatshirt, blue jeans and dark shoes. The suspect was armed with a shotgun. The suspect vehicle was described as an early to mid 2000’s white Buick Lacrosse. The suspect went into his vehicle and was last seen northbound on Lemon Grove Avenue.
After reviewing video surveillance, the suspect resembled that of a robbery that occurred on 12/23/15. The suspect had been identified by San Diego Police Department (SDPD). Detectives from SDPD were notified of the incident that occurred in Lemon Grove.
Following is the case synopsis of the City of Orange robbery:
On 12-26-15, at 2350 hours, a suspect later identified as Ira Stringer entered a “Circle K” located at 2504 E. Chapman Avenue, in the city of Orange. Stringer pointed a shotgun at three victims in the store. Stringer ordered the clerk to place money on his gas pump and demanded a pack of cigarettes. Stringer ordered a customer in the store to go pump his gas and a third victim to leave the business. Once the gas was pumped Stringer fled the scene in his vehicle, a white Buick Lacrosse, and was followed by a security guard who notified police.
Orange Police officers attempted to stop Stringer and a pursuit ensued. Stringer led police on a high speed pursuit from Orange to the City of Riverside where spike strips were deployed by CHP after the 45 mile pursuit. The spike strips successfully disabled Stringers vehicle. After an approximate two hours of negotiation, Stringer threw the shotgun from his vehicle and surrendered to the Riverside PD SWAT team and was taken into custody by Orange PD officers.
