Police have arrested three teenagers on suspicion of murder in what authorities believe was a gang-related slaying Monday night at Maxwell Farms Regional Park of 17-year-old Luis Roberto Miranda of Boyes Hot Springs.
The three are Juan Carlos Perez, 19, of American Canyon in Napa County, Javier Ceja, 19, of Sonoma, and a 17-year-old youth from Boyes Hot Springs who was not identified because he is a juvenile.
Sonoma Sheriff Lt. Rob Giordano said the three suspects became engaged in a verbal confrontation early Monday evening after they drove up to the park in a gray sedan and began exchanging “hostile gestures” with Miranda, who along with a large group of other youths gathered near the Boys and Girls Club Valley of the Moon. The sedan drove off, but 30 to 40 minutes later one of the suspects who Giordano said had worked his way back to the park along a creek bed, bolted out from some bushes and began firing into a crowd at the center of which was Miranda.
Miranda, who was shot at least once in the face, fell to the ground mortally wounded. He died a few minutes later after the authorities had arrived. Giordano said that Miranda belonged to a gang that has a long history of “rivalry“ with another gang, both of them located in Sonoma Valley.
The incident occurred at 6:48 p.m. Monday and within a short time the park as well as surrounding neighborhoods were flooded with 45 police officers – which besides the Sonoma Sheriff’s department included police from Petaluma as well as the California Highway Patrol – searching for suspects. A police helicopter circled overhead also looking.
Scores of youths were at the park when the shooting occurred playing soccer and engaging in other activities. David Pier, executive director of the Boys and Girls club, issued a press release Tuesday saying that “neither the victim nor the suspects involved was affiliated with the Boys and Girls Club.”
Pier said he had been assured by authorities that there “were no public safety issues” at the club or the park. And he said that the club will remain open during its regular hours and continue “to be a safe haven for the children of Sonoma Valley.
“The well-being of the young people we serve is our number one priority.” Pier said that the club as well as every Sonoma Valley school is offering counseling “to help the children affected by this incident.”
