Fight in Pacific Beach motel turned into homicide investigation

PACIFIC BEACH (KUSI) — A homicide case has been made stemming from a fight in a Pacific Beach motel after a man involved died, and detectives said the suspect was still at large Sunday.

Officers responded at 7:45 p.m. on April 14 to the San Diego Motel in the 4700 block of Mission Bay Drive to a report of a fight involving a man with a knife, according to Lt. Todd Griffin.

“The first officers to arrive found a male in a room suffering from lacerations on his head and arm, and blunt force trauma to his ribcage, sustained during an assault,” Griffin said in a statement released Sunday.

The victim, Joaquin Tuttle, 40, of San Diego, died Friday at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.

“San Diego Police Department homicide detectives were notified and are currently investigating the incident,” Griffin said. “There is no suspect in custody at this time.”