A suspect in a violent spring crime spree that included a near-fatal shooting in Vista was arrested Saturday by the Border Patrol, officials said.

When Vista detectives took on the case of a May grocery store theft-turned-robbery in which one man brandished a gun, the investigators knew only that they were looking for someone called "El Apa," Detective Lisa Jenkins said.

"All we had was a nickname," she said.

El Apa eventually made the county's 10 most wanted list as Jose Luis Galeania Torres, but police believe he is really 23-year-old Alfonso Quintero Lopez of Mexico.

He turned up as a suspect in a June shooting on Primrose Drive in Vista that wounded one man.

Meanwhile, San Diego police were looking for the same suspect in connection with the May robbery of a Quizno's sandwich shop.

The suspect in that case fled the store on foot, and, when followed by a store employee, fired at the employee, missing him, officials said.

On Saturday, Border Patrol agents caught Lopez in Jamul after he crossed the border from Mexico, Jenkins said.

In subsequent interviews, Lopez confessed to all the crimes and to fleeing to Mexico sometime after the Primrose Drive shooting, she said.

Vista Detective Mario Genera said Lopez told investigators he crossed the border back into California because his mother is sick and he knew he needed to "make right what he had done."

"That's what he said. Do I believe him? No way," said Genera, who investigated the Primrose Drive shooting.

That shooting may have been a spontaneous act of violence, Genera said. Though Lopez refused to say why he allegedly shot the unidentified victim in the chest, the victim -- who doctors said was lucky to survive -- ruled out several possible reasons, he said.

"He said it was not over guns; it was not over drugs; it was not over women; it was not over money," Genera said.

The wanted flier posted by the Sheriff's Department in July described Lopez as armed and dangerous and heavily addicted to methamphetamine.

Though the initial arrest warrant was written for robbery, the Sheriff's Department will recommend charges of attempted murder for both shootings, two charges of armed robbery and several weapons violations, Vista Sgt. Art Wager said.

Contact staff writer Colleen Mensching at (760) 739-6675 or cmensching@nctimes.com.