Seven Accused of Attempted Murder After Temecula Party Gets Violent

Seven people were in custody Thursday in connection with a shooting at a party in Temecula that left a male injured.

The shooting occurred just before midnight Friday in the 30600 block of Pauba Road, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Jon Wade said.

During the party hosted by a minor while the homeowners were away, two groups of people became involved in an altercation, Wade said. One of the groups left the party, threatening to return with a gun.

“A short time later, several subjects arrived at the party in a white pickup truck,” Wade said. “The subjects exited the truck, approached the party and shouted something before shooting into the crowd.”

Two of those people were recognized from the earlier altercation, Wade said.

The person struck by one of the fired rounds suffered non-life- threatening injuries, Wade said.

“Over the past five days, Temecula Police Detectives, with the assistance of the Special Enforcement and Problem Oriented Policing Teams were able to identify, locate and arrest [seven] individuals for their involvement in incident,” Wade said.

David Montijo, 21, of San Diego, and Racquel Rangel, 18, of Temecula, were booked for conspiracy and attempted murder, as were three 17-year-old boys and a 16-year-old boy, all from Temecula, Wade said.

Montijo was to appear at the Southwest Justice Center at 8 a.m. Thursday. He was being held in lieu of $1 million bail, according to county inmate records.

Rangel was to appear at the Southwest Justice Center at 8 a.m. Friday according to those records.

— City News Service contributed to this report.