Suspect Cuffed For Morongo Shootings

BANNING, CA – A 31-year-old man in custody Friday on suspicion of killing a man and wounding two others in a shooting on the Morongo Indian Reservation previously was convicted of manslaughter for a fatal barfight in Yucaipa.

Adrien Sotomayor was arrested on suspicion of murder and two counts of suspicion of attempted murder, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said Thursday. Sotomayor was initially detained as a "person of interest" in the shooting before being booked into the Larry Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, where he was being held without bail.

Deputies also identified the fatality victim as Gilbert Trevino, 55 of Beaumont.

The triple shooting was reported around 11 p.m. Wednesday in the area of Ramon and Chino roads, according to Sgt. Steve Brosche of the Sheriff's Department. Arriving deputies from the Cabazon station found three adult males suffering from gunshot wounds.

Trevino was transported to an area hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The surviving victims also were hospitalized: One remains in critical condition, and the other was released with minor injuries, the agency said.

The suspect and the shooting victims are not tribal members or residents of Morongo, deputies said. No additional details were released on Sotomayor's arrest or his connection to the victims.

Sotomayor is expected to be charged with murder in Trevino's killing early next week, but it would not be the first murder charges he's faced.

In San Bernardino County, Sotomayor and James Hiles were charged with murder in the 2008 beating death of Cherry Valley resident Grant Dodder at the Angel's Roadhouse Bar & Grill in Yucaipa.

Both men later pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and in 2010, Sotomayor was sentenced to three years in state prison, according to San Bernardino County court records.

Hiles was sentenced to five years in state prison, court records show. He has since been arrested for allegedly breaking into a 74-year-old Mentone woman's home and raping her last year.

Anyone with information on the incident can call Investigator Trudeau with the Central Homicide Unit at 951-955-2777, or Investigator Lane with Cabazon Station at 951-922-7100.

• ALSO SEE: Double Murder Off Ramona Expy: 4 Arrested

--City News Service contributed to this report/Image via Riverside County Sheriff