A 44-year-old man shot to death at a Tustin mixed-martial arts and boxing training center was identified Monday by the Orange County coroner’s office, as police tried to figure how why he was killed. Photo via OnScene.TV.
A third-striker was charged Monday with murder for allegedly gunning down the owner of a Tustin mixed-martial arts and boxing training center.
Kirk Vernell Price of Santa Ana was envious of the success of 44-year- old Fahness Lutalo, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Scott Simmons, who said the two had known each other for some time through the mixed-martial arts community.
“He was jealous of this guy,” the prosecutor said. ” He couldn’t beat him in the ring, and it was the kind of thing he was also jealous of him having a successful business.”
Simmons said the defendant was convicted in 1983 of robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and armed robbery, and faces up to 100 years to life in prison if convicted of murder with a sentencing enhancement for shooting a gun causing death and possession of a firearm with a prior conviction.
Price, 53, was arrested about 1 a.m. Friday near the Orange County Jail in Santa Ana when Tustin police were notified by sheriff’s deputies that the suspect was in their sights, according to Tustin police Lt. Bob Wright.
Investigators suspect that Price was trying to turn himself in, Wright said.
The shooting occurred about 12:10 p.m. Thursday at the OC Boxing & MMA Academy, in a strip mall at 14051 Newport Ave. Police were called to the gym in response to a “shots fired” call, according to Wright.
Gym workers told reporters that Price was a former student of Lutalo’s, but the two had a parting of the ways.
Price was allegedly thrown out of a previous gym Lutalo operated, and was asked to leave when he showed up at OC Boxing & MMA Academy.
Price walked into the gym, asked Lutalo a question and fired at least a dozen shots at the victim, Simmons alleged.
Lutalo’s father, Jerry Wilson, said last week that his son “exceeded any expectations or dreams or hopes that I could ever have for him.”
“He was absolutely my hero, my man, my boy,” Wilson said. “This (gym) was his dream. This was his dream and he made it happen. And he paid the price for it. I mean, he worked, he sacrificed, he did everything he needed to do to get here, and he finally got here.”
According to the gym’s website, Lutalo had more than 30 years experience in martial arts and was a former wrestling coach at Valencia High School.
Supporters established a crowdfunding site for the father of three’s family to help defray bills.
—City News Service
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