Coroners identify man killed in DHS shooting Wednesday night

Desert Hot Springs Police are investigating a deadly shooting Wednesday night. One man was found dead.

The shooting happened at the 66100 block of6thStreet near Cactus Drive in Desert Hot Springs around 8:45 PM.

Police Chief Dale Mondarysaid officers followed a blood trail into a house in the 66000 block of Sixth Street, where 19-year old Jose Gabriel Madrigal Vargas of Cathedral Citywas found mortally wounded. Vargas was pronounced dead at the scene half an hour later, according to the county coroner’s office.

Chief Mondary said the area was known for gang activity but it was so far too early to tell whether the shooting was gang-related.

DHSPDdetectives went to Eisenhower Medical Center to investigate a possible person of interest, according to Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies.

Eisenhower Medical Center’s Emergency Room went into lockdown, which is standard practice when a gunshot victim is involved, according to hospital spokesperson Lee Rice. The lockdown was lifted at around 11:30 PM.

On Monday morning, a man was found dead in a driveway near the exact same intersection in Desert Hot Springs. Police did not confirm at the time how the man died. There’s no word whether the two shootings are related.

The incident Wednesday makes it the third homicide in Desert Hot Springs in 2017.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Desert Hot Springs Police.

Stay with KESQ News Channel3 / CBS Local 2 as the story continues to develop.