Finding of 6 Bodies Leads To 5 Arrests

(RepublicanView.org) – During a press conference on January 29, authorities from San Bernardino County, California, confirmed that five suspects had been arrested following a shooting in a desert community that occurred the week prior. During the press conference, authorities described how six people were discovered dead – apparently shot to death – along Highway 395 in El Mirage. Deputies in the region received a call at 8:15pm on January 23 from a man who said that he had been shot and did not know where he was. The call abruptly ended, forcing officials to locate the scene by obtaining coordinates from the phone call.

The suspects were named by officials from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s office. Jose Manuel Burgos Parra, Jose Gregorio Hernandez Sarabia, Toniel Baez-Duarte, Mateo Baez-Duarte, and Jose Nicolas Hernandez Sarabia were all arrested and remain in custody as of Monday night. Each individual is being held without bail and a total of eight firearms were discovered and seized during the arrests.

The shootings occurred roughly 50 miles to the northeast of Los Angeles in a region so remote that authorities required support from the California state Highway Patrol Aviation Division to attend the scene.

Following the press conference, the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office announced a number of charges for the men who were arrested, including a total of six felony counts.

In a statement, District Attorney Jason Anderson offered his condolences to the families who lost loved ones in the shooting and described the incident as a “mass murder” that took place in the “dark secluded desert.”

Anderson also offered an insight into the motive for the shootings, linking the crime to cartel activity and the sale and distribution of illegal marijuana. According to Fox 11, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said the region is “known” for the trade of illegal marijuana, and that it appears as though the drug was the “guiding force” behind the shooting of these six victims.

Only four of the six shooting victims have been identified so far, including 25-year-old Kevin Dariel Bonilla, 22-year-old Franklin Noel Bonilla, and 34-year-old Baldemar Mondragon-Albarran.