OFF THE WIRE
CARLSBAD — A suspect was arrested Tuesday in connection with the stabbing death Friday night of an Oceanside man.
Juan Rocha, 20, was taken into custody at a Greyhound Bus Line station in Indianapolis about 2:30 a.m., Carlsbad police Sgt. Mickey Williams said.
He is being held on $5 million bail on first-degree murder and gang allegation charges in the death of 27-year-old Devin Allen.
He died at 11:32 p.m. Friday after being stabbed in the stomach. His father, Michael Allen, said the attack was unprovoked. His son was to celebrate his 28th birthday on April 1.
The father said the last time he talked to his son he told him that he loved him and that he would see him at his birthday barbecue.
On Friday night, Devin Allen and two friends had just left Hensley’s Flying Elephant Pub & Grill on Tamarack Avenue and were walking on Harding Street and Carol Place, just around the corner from the bar, when two men approached them.
One of the approaching men asked for a cigarette and then asked where Allen’s group where they were from, Michael Allen said.
Devin Allen replied that he was from Oceanside. His father said that led one of the men to take out a knife and attack his son.
Michael Allen, who lives in Orange County and works in Carlsbad, described his son as one of the most “mild, calm, peaceful people you could ever meet,” with an “insatiable love for life.”
A single father of a 6-year-old daughter, Devin Allen worked in construction as a painter and a tiler, his father said. He loved the Padres and the Chargers and had played baseball and semi-pro football.
Allen said he doesn’t think the attackers can ever understand the magnitude of what they have done. “This is a pain you never want to experience,” Michael Allen said.
He said he has received an outpouring of support, including from people he doesn’t even know.
A fundraising dinner to benefit Devin Allen’s daughter will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Grubby’s Diner in Oceanside, and a benefit concert will be from 2:30 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Pier View Pub in Oceanside.
Rocha, who is believed to be a gang member, is being held in Marion County Jail where he is awaiting extradition.
Williams said it would take days to weeks for him to be returned to Carlsbad.
He said investigators are still looking for anyone who was with Rocha that night or who might have helped him after the attack.
Anyone with information is asked to call Carlsbad police at (760) 931-2197.
