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VISTA -- Mark Figueroa was taking his family's young pit bull, Diego, for a routine walk Tuesday afternoon at Wildwood Park in Vista, his mother said Wednesday.

A short time later the 19-year-old -- court documents show he had been a gang member -- was fatally shot in the small park.
Within hours, sheriff's deputies arrested 20-year-old Samuel Palava Santillan on suspicion of first-degree murder. He was being held without bail Wednesday pending a possible hearing this afternoon at the Vista court.

"We don't have a motive," sheriff's homicide Lt. Dennis Brugos said Wednesday. "Something happened between these two."

Brugos said investigators haven't established that the victim and suspect knew each other before the physical fight that ended in the slaying or whether it was gang-related.

Investigators knew Tuesday that Figueroa "was listed as an associate" of the Vista Home Boys, the city's large, longtime Latino gang, said homicide Capt. Clay Reynard.

However, Reynard said, there was no verification of Santillan being associated with a gang.

Records from the North County courthouse indicate that a person with the same name and date of birth of Santillan, the alleged gunman, pleaded guilty Oct. 20 to two misdemeanor charges: vandalism and possession of the drug Ecstasy; in exchange, the prosecution dropped a misdemeanor charge of resisting an officer.

Santillan was sentenced to three years on probation, and ordered to enroll in a court program by Dec. 15 -- a court deadline he missed.

As for Figueroa, court documents related to a 2005 injunction against the Vista Home Boys include a declaration that says Figueroa allegedly told a deputy on May 23, 2003, that he had "backed the Vista Home Boys for about two years."

An administrator at Vista High School told a deputy that Figueroa hung out with the gang's members at school and that Figueroa was "running" the school, the document also said.

It said that same school administrator told the deputy that "both teachers and students are afraid of Figueroa."

That is not how Magdalena Figueroa recalled her son Wednesday. She firmly disputed such descriptions of his activities, saying the allegations were lies and racist.

"I didn't know that," she said about the injunction. "He never mentioned that to me. He didn't know about it, either."

She remembered her son, also known as Mark Rebolloso, as a cheerful, friendly and outgoing person who had gone through Vista schools. He wanted to become a Marine, Magdalena Figueroa said.

"He was starting to go to a continuation school," the mother said in an interview at the park Wednesday. "He talked about enlisting in the service, in the military, after he got done with his schooling. He didn't have a problem with people around here."

Standing in the park where a few children played near the busy intersection of Escondido Avenue and Vista Village Drive, she said she has been living with Mark, her younger son.

"We were just getting by," said Figueroa.

She was returning home after picking up Diego, who was found leashed to a tree in the park after the shooting, from the Humane Society shelter in Oceanside.

Figueroa, a 20-year area resident, said Wildwood has been a place where families celebrate holidays, birthdays, and time off from work.

During the first 10 months of this year, there were nine "very minor" crime cases at the park and five calls for service, said Capt. Ed Prendergast, commander of the Vista Sheriff's Station.

He said the crimes included three vehicle code violations, vehicle burglaries and an arson.

"Certainly, there's not a crime spree at that park," Prendergast said. "This is not a hangout for gangs. If it is, it would be a hangout for us."

Melissa Shelton of Fallbrook was one of the few people at Wildwood about noon Wednesday. She was holding her 20-month-old daughter, Nevaeh, and keeping an eye on her rambunctious 4-year-old son, Cody.

"It's nicer than the other parks, I think," said Shelton, a first-time visitor.