A business associate of a popular practitioner of Chinese herbal medicine has been arrested in connection with what California authorities say was the horrific slaying of the herbalist, his wife and the couple's 5-year-old daughter.

Pierre Haobsh, 27, of Oceanside, was taken into custody at gunpoint at a gas station in San Diego County, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bob Brown said.

Investigators with an arrest warrant had been following a red Lexus that belonged to him, Brown said. A loaded gun and property belonging to one of the victims was found inside the car, the sheriff said.