SAN DIEGO _ San Diego police have detained a man believed responsible for killing three homeless men and injuring two others, the fifth one early Friday.
The latest victim, a 55-year-old man who was sleeping under a freeway overpass, is expected to survive, police said.
"If it is our guy, we're going to feel very relieved," said police Capt. David Nisleit, who has led a massive investigation since the first victim was killed, then set on fire, on July 3. "We've been working around the clock."
He said a large number of officers around the city have been on the lookout for the attacker, and officers scouring areas around the latest attack found a suspect. Nisleit said he was told the man resembles the suspect whose image was caught on a convenience store surveillance video after the first attack.
Two officers were headed toward their station when they heard a man screaming, Nisleit said. They found a homeless man under the freeway overpass, bleeding from a severe chest wound.
They quickly assessed that the attack fit the same pattern as the other killings, in which men sleeping alone suffered major upper body chest wounds. Police have not disclosed what type of weapon has been used, and Nisleit did not say whether a weapon was found near the latest victim.
Officers cordoned off the area and were walking along a route possibly used by the attacker.
