Crime & Safety

Coroner IDs All Family Members Killed In Menifee Murder-Suicide

No details regarding a possible motive were released.

The April 6 shooting scene in Menifee, where four family members died in what the sheriff's department called a murder-suicide.
The April 6 shooting scene in Menifee, where four family members died in what the sheriff's department called a murder-suicide. (Joe Fanaselle)

MENIFEE, CA — The Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner's Bureau has identified all four family members who died in a murder-suicide April 6 in Menifee.

The shooter, Roberto Perez, 39, killed Yareli Vidal-Venegas, 32, David Aguirre, 15, and Ronaldo Vidal, 16, at a home in the 31000 block of Sherman Road.

Perez turned the gun on himself.

The coroner's bureau did not immediately release the names of the teen boys pending notification of next of kin. It is not clear how the boys were related to Perez. According to a GoFundMe post, Vidal-Venegas was their mother.

The time of injury on the three victims is unknown, according to the coroner's report. Vidal-Venegas was pronounced dead at 4:40 p.m., while the teen boys died less than an hour later — David at 5:04 p.m., and Ronaldo at 5:19 p.m., according to the coroner's bureau.

It's not clear if there may have been others present in the home during the shooting. According to the GoFundMe post, the three victims are survived by a "daughter."

The coroner's time-of-deaths timeline fits with the sheriff's department report, which said when patrol deputies responded to the domestic disturbance they found a man inside the home who refused to come out and speak with them.

He told them he had just shot and killed his family.

During the incident, deputies tried to get Perez to surrender. While trying to draw him out, "a single gunshot from within the residence" was heard, according to the sheriff's department.

When deputies forcibly entered the house they found the suspect, later identified as Perez, dead, along with two of his family members. One family member was still clinging to life despite gunshot wounds, and died in transport to a local hospital, according to the sheriff's department.

The coroner's report does not indicate how many shots were fired at the victims.

No details regarding a possible motive or anything else connected to the shooting were released.

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