MORENO VALLEY, CA — A man accused of gunning down a 17-year-old Moreno Valley boy and wounding his friend was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder and other offenses.
Manuel Gomez, 52, of Moreno Valley, was arrested last week following a Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigation.
Along with murder, Gomez was charged with attempted murder and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
The defendant pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Tuesday afternoon before Superior Court Judge Gary Polk, who set his bail at $1 million and scheduled a felony settlement conference for Sept. 3 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
Gomez is being held at the Robert Presley Jail.
According to sheriff's Sgt. Carlos Mendoza, at 6:35 p.m. Thursday, patrol deputies were called to a county fire station in the 13000 block of Glorybower Street, near Cottonwood Avenue, on the west end of Moreno Valley, regarding a gun assault.
Mendoza said the victims, identified only as 17-year-old "M.R." and 18-year-old "S.C.," both of Moreno Valley, had gone to the station seeking medical aid after they were shot at an unspecified location. Firefighters were rendering emergency treatment when deputies arrived.
Paramedics pronounced M.R. dead at the scene. S.C. was taken to nearby Riverside University Medical Center for treatment of non-life-threatening wounds. He was in stable condition Tuesday.
Central Homicide Unit detectives took over the investigation and within 24 hours identified Gomez as the alleged perpetrator. He was detained in the city without incident and taken to the sheriff's Moreno Valley station for questioning, culminating in his formal arrest Friday afternoon.
A possible motive for the alleged attack wasn't provided.
Gomez has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
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