The manager of San Francisco’s historic Condor Club had terminated the East Bay couple now suspected of killing him near his Santa Rosa home earlier this month, police said Monday.
The firing of Richard Anthony Lund, 43, and Asia Lozano Morton, 25, is considered “at least one motivating factor” in the Oct. 3 killing of Mark Calcagni, Santa Rosa police Sgt. Patricia Seffens told The Press Democrat. Investigators are still determining whether other motives played a role.
On Monday, Lund was charged with murder and two additional felonies related to illegal gun possession, according to Sonoma County Superior Court records. He has prior convictions from 2005 and earlier, mostly in Nevada County, including burglary, statutory rape and assault with a deadly weapon.
Morton was charged with being an accessory. She and Lund both remained in the Sonoma County jail without bail.
As of Monday afternoon, court records showed both suspects were scheduled to appear Tuesday morning before Sonoma County Judge Lynnette Brown.
Police described Lund and Morton as a couple from Dublin. Calcagni, 60, was found dead Oct. 3 near his home on Brookwood Avenue.
Investigators say Lund waited for Calcagni to return home from work shortly after 5 a.m. and shot him five times before fleeing in a newer-model Toyota RAV4. The vehicle has been impounded, but no weapon has been recovered, Seffens said. Detectives are also investigating the full timeline of events, including how long Lund waited and what happened just before the shooting.
Morton’s whereabouts at the time of the shooting are still under investigation, but she is suspected of helping to plan the attack, which Seffens said was “definitely premeditated.”
Seffens credited the arrests to “hard work” by detectives who developed leads from witness statements, surveillance footage and digital evidence.
Lund was arrested Friday at the couple’s Dublin home, and Morton was taken into custody shortly after she returned to San Francisco International Airport from a trip to Spain. Seffens said the trip did not appear to be related to the killing.
Questions about their employment were referred to the Condor Club, a North Beach landmark known as the nation’s first topless bar. The club had been Calcagni’s professional home for years.
“His dedication, leadership and passion over many years shaped who we are today. We are devastated by this loss,” Condor Club staff said in a statement after his death.