Man arrested in connection to parking lot killings

(AP) – San Diego police say a man has been arrested in the holiday-season killings of two brothers and a woman one of them was engaged to marry.

Police Lt. Mike Hastings says 29-year-old Carlo Gallopa Mercado was arrested late Friday and booked Saturday on suspicion of three counts of murder. He’s scheduled for arraignment Wednesday.

No further details were released, and police didn’t know whether the suspect had hired an attorney.

Authorities say Salvadore Belvedere and Ilona Flint were found shot in the parking lot of a San Diego mall early Christmas Eve. She died at the scene, and he died at a hospital days later.

Belvedere’s brother, Gianni, who was Flint’s fianc, disappeared about the same time. He was found shot to death in a car’s trunk 3 weeks later some 90 miles away in Riverside.