Figure in 2011 murder of Garett Berki was found murdered at party

A participant in the 2011 murder and robbery of Garrett Berki, 18, of Mission Beach, was found shot to death at a house party held on April 27 at an Airbnb in El Cajon.

Seandell Lee Jones, who was 29, was released from prison in 2021 after serving 10 years. A judge dismissed a murder charge because of a change in state law on “non-killer accomplices,” said Steve Walker, communications director for District Attorney Summer Stephen on May 3.

Jones was not the gunman who fired the lone shot that killed Berki, a 2010 graduate of La Jolla High School. Berki was shot in his car after he and his girlfriend were robbed of $640 and their cellphones at gunpoint on May 11, 2011.

Berki had driven to Paradise Hills in search of a computer for sale on Craigslist, but he discovered it was instead a robbery. He and his girlfriend lost their money and phones, but Berki then followed the thieves’ stolen car in his car.

The attorney for the actual gunman told jurors the getaway driver slammed on the brakes suddenly and that caused the gun to discharge in the 3000 block of Fleming Drive in a cul-de-sac. Berki was hit in the shoulder, but the bullet traveled into his lungs and some arteries were severed.

Berki was rushed to a hospital where he died. The jury convicted all three men of first-degree murder and robbery. The actual gunman received 50 years to life, while Jones and another man in the car received sentences of 25 years to life.

Jones was eligible to petition the court for re-sentencing after the change in state law in 2019, which required that others with the actual killer must be shown to be a major participant or have “reckless indifference to human life,” said Walker.

His two robbery convictions were not overturned, and “Jones had more than enough credits for those crimes and was released to the parole office on April 22, 2021,” added Walker.

Jones was 17 years old when he was involved in the shooting of Berki, and he was ordered to stand trial as an adult.

On April 27, Jones was pronounced dead at 2:45 a.m. from multiple gunshot wounds at the scene of the party in the 800 block of Renfro Way in unincorporated El Cajon, according to the sheriff’s department.

The second person who was shot at the party was Jaden Davis, 20, of San Diego, according to the sheriff’s department. Davis was airlifted to a hospital, but he died about two hours later.

Davis himself was out on bond after he and another man were charged with attempted robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, and carrying a loaded weapon in a March 1 incident. Davis had pleaded not guilty in El Cajon Superior Court.

Neither Jones or Davis lived at the house. The sheriff’s department said the first caller said they heard 8-10 gunshots around 2 a.m. and a second caller said someone had been shot.

No one has been arrested in the double homicide, but the sheriff’s department is continuing to investigate. Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s homicide unit at 858-285-6330 or 858-565-5200. People who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.