A hearing for the 26 year-old man accused of murder for pushing another person into an oncoming train in Old Town is scheduled on Friday.
Ryan Micheal Rukstelis was arrested earlier this week for allegedly murdering 68 year-old Santee resident Martin Andara who was pushed into the side of a moving train on New Years day. According to authorities, Rukstelis pushed Anadra without provocation after exiting a southbound trolley at the Old Town Transit Center on Saturday morning. Andara sustained fatal injuries, according to authorities.
Friends and family of the victim gathered at the Old Town Transit Center on Thursday to remember the life of Martin Andra, who they described as a kind co-worker, brother, and father.
“We’re working very hard on this because it was such an unprovoked attack,”. “If (the suspect) would do that to this victim, he could do it to anybody,”San Diego police homicide Lt. Andra Brown said.
According to authorities, Rukstelis, who is apparently an unsheltered resident, exited the same trolley as Andara at approximately 6:15 a.m. and fled the scene on foot after the attack. Investigators took Rukstelis into custody on suspicion of murder around 3 p.m. on Park Boulevard in the Balboa Park area, Lt. Brown said in a news release.
Surveillance footage from MTS cameras were used by San Diego law enforcement to identify Rukstelis as the culprit behind the New Year’s Day killing.
Rukstelis' arraignment for first degree murder was postponed on Thursday due to a request to appear in court. He was scheduled to be back in court on Friday morning.
