Man pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter in 18-year-old friend’s shooting death

A 19-year-old Cathedral City man pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for the accidental shooting death of a friend at the defendant’s Cathedral City home earlier this year.

Calvin Villareal is slated to be sentenced on Nov. 15 to four years and four months in prison for the Feb. 15 death of Henry Neri, 18.

Cathedral City Fire Department paramedics sent to Villareal’s residence at 9:16 that night took Neri to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, but doctors were unable to save him.

A police official could not immediately be reached for comment on the circumstances behind the shooting.

Villareal’s attorney, Leonard Cravens, would only say that the shooting was an accident and called it “a sad situation for all involved.”

“They were very good friends and now he’s going to have live with this for the rest of his life,” the defense attorney said.

Villareal is being held without bail at the Riverside County jail in Indio.