Suspect in Cathedral City shooting charged with murder

A 28-year-old man accused in a fatal shooting over the weekend in Cathedral City is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow.

Jose Ernesto Martinez of Desert Hot Springs was arrested Saturday and remains held at the John Benoit Detention Center in Indio on $1 million bail awaiting his arraignment at the Banning Justice Center.

Martinez was charged late Tuesday with murder, and he faces a sentence-enhancing allegation of discharging a firearm causing great bodily injury.

Martinez allegedly gunned down 27-year-old Isaac Valles of Rancho Mirage early Saturday, the result of a domestic dispute, according to the Cathedral City Police Department.

Officers sent to the 31800 block of Neuma Drive about 2:40 a.m. found the victim lying in the roadway, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, police said.

Despite first responders' attempts to revive him, Valles was pronounced dead at the scene.

Detectives collected "ample witness statements and crime scene evidence" that pointed to Martinez as the suspect, who was arrested in Desert Hot Springs about two hours after police initially arrived on scene, jail records show.

Martinez has no documented felony convictions in Riverside County.