Bail was set at $3 million Oct. 18 for a former Chula Vista man accused of killing his girlfriend in front of her 5-year-old son.
The arraignment of Rodrick Lamar Harris, 32, was delayed several times in San Diego Superior Court last week as he was reported to be despondent and in a jail “safety cell” following the Oct. 12 shooting death of Vanessa Marie Bobo, 29, in San Carlos.
Harris pleaded not guilty Oct. 18 to murder, and two counts of felony child endangerment. Bobo was shot as she held the couple’s 11-month-old son, said Deputy District Attorney Lindsey Carinci.
Carinci said Harris fired two shots, one of which went into Bobo’s back, severing her spinal cord. She dropped the baby and Harris fled to Chula Vista. Harris was arrested 12 hours later by Chula Vista Police at the home of a relative in the 200 block of Woodlawn Avenue.
Carinci said the second shot went into a wall of the residence of the couple in the 6400 block of Lake Arrowhead Drive near El Cajon. She said the couple had an argument and he grabbed a loaded revolver and followed her into the 5-year-old’s room.
“The 5-year-old did witness his mother’s murder,” said Carinci.
The prosecutor asked Judge Frederic Maguire for $4 million bail, saying Harris represented “a significant safety risk to the public at large.” A public defender asked for “reasonable bail.”
A preliminary hearing was set for Dec. 12. The children are in the care of family members. A GoFundMe.com account was set up by the victim’s sister seeking donations for Bobo’s funeral and for raising the two children.
