Couple killed in ‘mistaken identity’ shooting, California cops say. Two men arrested
A couple was fatally shot by two men in California after their identities were mistaken, police said.
Gonzalo Echeverria, 24, and his cousin Jose Echeverria, 32, were arrested on murder charges, Salinas Police Department said in a Facebook post.
The two men from El Salvador are accused of fatally shooting Jesus Arias Villa, 22, and Karina Chavez Vargas, 23, multiple times while the couple was sitting in their car at about 8:20 p.m. on Feb. 5, police and KION-TV reported.
Investigators initially said they had little information about the shooters, but they knew they were driving a light-colored sedan, police said.
But they sifted through 1,000 hours of surveillance footage over the next week to identity the car, a white Nissan Altima, to then identify suspects in the killings, KION-TV reported.
Gonzalo Echeverria was arrested on Feb. 14, while his cousin Jose Echeverria was arrested the following day, police said.
Police said Gonzalo Echeverria had prior convictions on gang-related charges, the Monterey Herald reported.
The investigation is ongoing, but police said there isn’t any “additional risk to the community.”
“The investigators have determined that Jesus and Karina were not the intended targets of this senseless act of violence and that it was a case of mistaken identity,” police said.
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 1:15 PM with the headline "Couple killed in ‘mistaken identity’ shooting, California cops say. Two men arrested."
