Three people were arrested in connection with a mass shooting and double homicide in Monterey County that left six people dead and seven others injured, authorities announced Friday.
Jonathan Leal Cervantes, 18, Pedro Manuel Nava, 22, and a juvenile, all of Greenfield, were charged with six counts of suspected murder, seven counts of suspected attempted murder, one count of suspected armed robbery and gang and gun. improvements, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office announced Friday.
“This marks a significant step toward accountability and toward delivering some answers for affected families in our broader community,” Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto said at Friday's news conference.
Cervantes and Nava are scheduled to be arraigned Friday afternoon; The juvenile was scheduled to be arraigned Friday morning, authorities said.
On March 3, police responded around 6 p.m. to a report of shots fired at a home in the 200 block of North 2nd Street in King City, where a birthday party was being held. Eleven people were found with gunshot wounds and four people, one woman and three men, later died from their injuries, according to Police Chief James Hunt.
Authorities identified those murdered as Alicia Ramírez Aparicio, Francisco Aldape Pérez and Olivo Pérez Pina, residents of King City, all 32 years old, and Mario Guzmán Mendoza, 42 years old.
The gunmen, wearing masks and dark-colored clothing, drove to the home in a stolen silver Kia and opened fire, authorities said. They then fled the scene and left the stolen car at a vineyard outside Greenfield, where it was found three days later.
The seven injured adults were hospitalized, two in critical condition and the others with non-life-threatening injuries.
Authorities have linked the King City mass shooting to another violent incident that occurred about a month earlier, in which two cousins were shot to death outside Soledad. The victims, whom authorities identified as Jack Canchola, 20, and Andrés García, 26, residents of Soledad, called 9-1-1 around 6:45 p.m. on February 4, saying they were being chased by “guys with guns” driving police vehicles. It was later said to be a stolen Kia sedan.
Investigators said at a news conference in February that the shooting appeared to be a case of mistaken identity because the victims had no criminal history or apparent gang ties. Additionally, they described Canchola as a person with “high-functioning” autism.
The couple was confronted by the suspects at a location near the Salinas River where they had gone to give Canchola a break from a busy family gathering, investigators said. The cousins left to try to avoid a fight, but the suspects “chased them down and killed them,” Monterey County Sheriff's Office Investigations Commander Michael Darlington alleged.
Authorities allege the suspects, whom they described as gang affiliated, were linked to an armed robbery in Salinas.
