By Micheal Chukwuebuka, Reporting
THE bodies of six people found shot in the California desert, in which some of the victims were also burned, is believed to have stemmed from a dispute over marijuana.
According to reports, five people were arrested on Sunday in San Bernardino County, east of Los Angeles, and the sheriff’s office said there are no other outstanding suspects.
“I can guarantee you we got the five right people,” Sheriff Shannon Dicus said at a news conference on Monday.
Stonix News reported that six victims were found last week in or near two vehicles at an intersection in El Mirage, in the Mojave Desert, after one of the victims called 911 at around 8:16 p.m., saying he had been shot but didn’t know where he was.
The phone was tracked, and a Dodge Caravan that had been shot multiple times was found, as well as a Chevy Trailblazer.
Five bodies were found there, and a sixth victim was found some distance away. Four of the victims had been burned at the location.
“We are confident that this appears to be a dispute over marijuana, which resulted in the murders,” sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Warrick said.
The identities of those arrested has been revealed by the sheriff’s office as Jose Gregorio Hernandez-Sarabia, 34, Jose Manuel Burgos Parra, 26, Jose Nicolas Hernandez-Sarabia, 33, Mateo Baez-Duarte, 24, and 34-year-old Toniel Beaz-Duarte.
They were held without bond Monday night as the district attorney reviews the case for charges.
The sheriff’s department also identified four of the victims as Franklin Noel Bonilla, 22, and Kevin Dariel Bonilla, 25, both of Hesperia; Baldemar Mondragon-Albarran, 34, of Adelanto; and a 45-year-old man whose name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
Warrick said eight guns were recovered when the sheriff’s office executed search warrants and made the five arrests related to last week’s killings.
The area of search warrants, according to Warrick, were adjacent to illegal marijuana grows, but none were at grows.
As of when filing this report, the case remained under active investigation.
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