UPDATE (3:30 p.m., April 27): Hector Duarte has also been arrested for his involvement in the shooting, police said Monday.
KING CITY — King City Police has arrested a 21-year-old man involved in a shooting that injured one person Saturday evening at the Valero gas station.
At about 5:40 p.m. on April 25, officers responded to a report of “shots fired” at the gas station, located at 601 Broadway St., but the subjects had already fled the area. Shortly thereafter, Mee Memorial Hospital advised police that it was treating a man for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.
The victim was subsequently transferred to Natividad Hospital in Salinas for treatment, police said.
South County Major Crimes Unit, a collaborative investigative unit of the King City and Greenfield police departments, conducted its investigation throughout the evening to identify the subjects. Preliminary information indicated the man was shot after he tried to help victims involved in a physical altercation that took place among four men at the Valero parking lot.
Police said the suspected shooter and accomplice fled the area in a gray Honda Accord. Using the city’s video surveillance network, officers were able to track the vehicle to a residence in King City.
King City residents Hector Duarte and Jorge Cortes, both 21, were identified as suspects in the attempted homicide.
“While surveilling the residence where the suspect vehicle was located, several people were seen leaving in a different vehicle,” police said in a news release. “A high-risk enforcement stop was conducted on the vehicle in King City.”
The occupants of the vehicle were detained for further investigation, police said, after which Cortes was arrested for his involvement in the shooting incident.
With the help of the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team, search warrants were also served at residences in the 300 block of South Vanderhurst Avenue and 700 block of South First Street in King City as part of the investigation.
“The King City Police Department would like to thank the Greenfield Police Department and the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance with this investigation,” police said.
Anyone with further information regarding this case is encouraged to call King City Police at 831-386-5980; Det. Sgt. John Dow at 831-386-5969 or the WeTip line at 1-800-78-CRIME.
