Deadly DHS shootings within days may be connected
The slayings of two men days apart on the same Desert Hot Springs street are believed to be connected, with the second killing apparently carried out in retaliation for the first, court documents show.
Orlando Archuleta, 27, of Desert Hot Springs, is charged with murder in the March 29 shooting death of 23-year-old Cathedral City resident Jose Gabriel Madrigal Vargas, who Archuleta apparently believed was involved in the killing of his friend two days prior, according to court papers.
Vargas’ body was found about two days after another young man, 21-year-old Freddy Morales, of Cathedral City, was found dead. Morales’ body was discovered around 6 a.m. March 27 in the driveway of a home at 66219 Sixth St.
According to court documents, Morales and Archuleta were friends, and Archuleta believed Vargas had a hand in Morales’ killing, though the reasons why were not disclosed.
No arrests have been made in Morales’ death.
Vargas was found about 8:30 p.m. March 29 after officers received multiple calls of shots fired and followed a blood trail to a house in the 66100 block of Sixth St. He was pronounced dead at the scene about a half-hour
later.
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Archuleta was hospitalized that same day with gunshot wounds, according to a declaration in support of an arrest warrant. Officers interviewed him and he admitted to being shot at the Sixth Street home, but said he didn’t know who shot him, the declaration states.
He was released from the hospital, but was arrested about a week later for a parole violation, and has been in custody ever since. Court documents state that a confidential informant told officers that Archuleta and Morales’ brother planned the fatal shooting as retaliation against Vargas.
Another person inside the Sixth Street home fired back at Archuleta, causing the gunshot wounds that landed him in the hospital, according to the declaration.
Archuleta, who is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside, is slated to make his initial court appearance Thursday, according to jail records.
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