24-year-old found guilty of two Banning murders, faces potential life sentence
A 24-year-old man was found guilty of his role in the killings of two men in Banning, as well as the attempted murders of seven other people in three separate shooting incidents in 2017.
Samuel Vasquez was found guilty on all counts and allegations by a Riverside County jury on Jan. 25.
Vasquez was involved in the murders of Charles Neazer, 51, in 2015 and Henry Waters Jr., 20, in 2017. Both men were found with gunshot wounds.
The cases went cold until May 2021, when investigators were able to identify and arrest Vasquez as one of the suspects involved in the murders.
As part of the guilty verdict, Vasquez was found to have committed the crimes in association with and for the benefit of a criminal street gang. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 14.
In their original news release announcing the arrest, police said Neazer was walking home when Vasquez, and a second suspect, William Armendariz Jr., drove up next to him as he was crossing the street. The two exited a vehicle and shot Neazer. They then fled the scene.
Armendariz has also been arrested and charged in connection with the killing of Neazer. He remains in court with his next appearance scheduled for Feb. 23, according to court records.
It was a similar case in the murder of Waters. Police said he was walking with a friend at around 3 a.m. when a vehicle pulled up next to Waters and his friend. Vasquez, along with a second suspect, Jose Verdusco Jr., exited the vehicle and shot Waters several times killing him. They also attempted to shoot Waters’ friend, who had run and hid during the incident.
Verdusco was arrested and charged with Waters' murder. His name does not pop up in court or county jail records. We have reached out to the Riverside County District Attorney's office for an update on the status of his case.
The cases, along with similar incidents at the time, prompted the Banning Police Department to increase its number of detectives.
The department has said that in 2019, its Detective Bureau, after reviewing evidence from other crime scenes started finding similarities and evidence that was similar to other crimes in and out of the city. Over time, detectives started creating lists of persons of interest and worked to eliminate suspects from the list through intensive investigation.
"This monumental task was nearly impossible without having the proper staffing levels in the Detective Bureau," reads the announcement by the Banning Police Dept.
Around that time, Banning Police Chief Matthew Hamner met with the department's veteran staff and listened to their ideas and concerns. It was then decided that there was a need for additional detectives to work through this complicated task.
"Chief Hamner had to make the difficult decision to remove officers from patrol and reassign them to the Detective Bureau, in order to effectively work these complicated murder investigations. This decision has been paying off and continues to do so," the department wrote.
Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing updates.
