Daly City movie theater shooting suspect arrested

(11-03) 09:59 PDT DALY CITY --

A man has been arrested in a shooting outside a Daly City movie theater that wounded three people, including a pregnant woman who delivered her baby prematurely as a result of the attack, police said Wednesday.

Andrew Covarrubias, 18, of San Francisco opened fire, police said, because one of the victims had bumped into him outside the Century Theaters at the Pacific Plaza on Junipero Serra Boulevard.

The shooting happened at 10:45 p.m. Friday. All the victims are expected to survive, including the prematurely born baby, police said.

The gunman fled through a pedestrian tunnel leading to the Daly City BART station, police said. Investigators learned that a man matching the assailant's description had hailed a cab at the station and had been dropped off on the 4400 block of Mission Street in San Francisco.

On Tuesday, undercover Daly City officers watching that block spotted the suspect, who was wearing clothes identical to the shooter's, police Lt. Jay Morena said. The shooter had been filmed on surveillance video.

The officers chased Covarrubias across rooftops and through backyards before overtaking and arresting him, Morena said.

Covarrubias is being held at the San Mateo County Jail on suspicion of three counts of attempted murder and weapons violations.

E-mail Henry K. Lee at hlee@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page E - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle