By Jen Lebron Kuhney, UNION-TRIBUNE

Pauline Repard, UNION-TRIBUNE

Originally published April 13, 2011 at 1:38 p.m., updated April 13, 2011 at 7:45 p.m.

EAST COUNTY — A man suspected of fatally stabbing a Borrego Springs resident Wednesday morning was later shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy in the Descanso area.

Sheriff’s officials did not release the name of either deceased man but said the 52-year-old homicide suspect and the 72-year-old stabbing victim had known each other for about 10 years.

Investigators did not offer a possible motive for the stabbing.

In interviews, Borrego Springs residents identified the stabbing suspect as Craig Petersen, a general contractor who had been doing work at the victim’s home. The victim and his wife were living on Borrego Hills Road in The Estates, an exclusive section of the gated Montesoro golf resort community.

Residents said the stabbing victim was George Mendenhall, a businessman described as a “snowbird” who had another home in Oregon.

A female member of Mendenhall’s family reported the stabbing to the Sheriff’s Department about 7 a.m., homicide unit Sgt. Roy Frank said. The woman found the victim in the garage, he said, and knew the suspected assailant. She gave deputies his name.

Paramedics found people using CPR on Mendenhall, but he was declared dead a short time later, a Cal Fire official said.

Deputies began scouring the desert community for the assailant, aided by a sheriff’s helicopter, and broadcast a description of his vehicle as a light blue Ford F-150 pickup. The California Department of Justice, U.S. Border Patrol and Naval Criminal Intelligence Service also assisted in the investigation.

Several residents said they noticed the helicopter traveling slowly over the town. Within a few hours, many residents had heard what had happened at The Estates.

“It kind of puts a knot in everyone’s stomach. Something like this doesn’t happen here every day,” said James “Okie” McNatt, an eight-year resident and elected honorary mayor of Borrego Springs, a town of about 2,500 people.

The sheriff’s computerized crime data goes back to 2003, and no homicides have been recorded in the town since then, a department spokeswoman said.

A sheriff’s sergeant radioed about 1 p.m. Wednesday that he was checking on a vehicle at Interstate 8 and state Route 79 near Japatul Road in the Descanso area, saying it fit the description of the one used by the fleeing homicide suspect, sheriff’s Lt. Jim Walker said.

A few minutes later, Walker said, the sergeant reported that shots had been fired.

Paramedics declared the wounded man dead about 1:40 p.m.

Frank said the sergeant was on a routine patrol and saw a light blue Ford at the Park and Ride lot north of the freeway, with a man in the back. As the sergeant approached the truck, the man reportedly reached into a tool chest and turned toward the sergeant with an object that looked like a firearm.

The sergeant fired at least one round, striking the man in the chest, Frank said. The man fell backwards in the truck bed.

The shooting was witnessed by a woman who was there with a girl, Frank said. They were questioned and allowed to leave about three hours later.

McNatt said Petersen was a general contractor and had been working at the Mendenhall home and at another resident’s home in Montesoro. McNatt said he played cards with Petersen a few times, and when they last talked about a month ago, Petersen said he had been working in downtown San Diego.

Petersen lived in the Desert Sands recreational vehicle park in Borrego Springs, McNatt said.

“He kept to himself a little bit,” McNatt said of Petersen. “He was very opinionated about politics and other things.”

Petersen reportedly was the subject of a safety alert circulated to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park employees a couple of years ago, after they caught him walking a dog off-leash in the park. He allegedly was belligerent and made threatening comments to employees, and later in court to a ranger who cited him for the violation, according to a brochure obtained by a Borrego Springs resident.

pauline.repard@uniontrib.com • (619) 293-1865

jen.kuhney@uniontrib.com • (858) 480-9582 • Twitter @jenkuhney