Target Parking Lot Murder Suspects Arrested Two Years Later

Two Watsonville men suspected of gunning down a Prundale field worker in the Target shopping center parking lot two years ago were arrested this week in a cross-border effort to capture the gang members, Watsonville police reported.

Gustavo Diaz, 20, was shot in broad daylight as he walked through the parking lot with his 26-year-old girlfriend on July 23, 2011. Both Saragoza and his girlfriend were hit. He died at the scene; she recovered from her injuries. 

Early in the investigation, detectives identified Miguel Angel Rodriguez, a 24-year-old Watsonville man, as the person behind the wheel of the green Honda Accord that the gunman fired shots from. 

The Policia Estatal Preventiva, the state police of Baja, Mexico, found Rodriguez living in Mexicali this month. They contacted the US Marshals, who in turned called Watsonville police investigators to confirm that Rodriguez was, in fact, wanted for homicide in the U.S. That was Tuesday, two years to the day since Diaz was killed, Watsonville police said.

PEP agents detained Rodriguez and deported him to the U.S., where Marshals took custody of him and Watsonville detectives picked him up at the Imperial County Jail, according to Watsonville police.

"The Agents of Policia Estatal Preventiva have told us one of their priorities is to pursue, arrest, and deport persons who flee to Baja, California, in an effort to elude capture," Watsonville police Sgt. Eric Taylor said in a prepared statement. "We will be working with them in the future to bring closure to more WPD cases."

This week, investigators also identified Cesar Rosales, 21, of Watsonville as the second suspect in the gang slaying. He was still living in Watsonville and was arrested at his workplace this week, police reported.

Both men were jailed on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and gang enhancements, police said.

Detectives have long believed the slaying was gang-motivated. Diaz had ties to Sureños, a Latino street gang that identifies with the color blue and number 13. Sureños and Norteños, the dominate gang in Watsonville, are rivals. Norteños claim red and the number 14.

But Saragoza hadn't been in much trouble before, according to police. He was from Oxnard and had moved to Prunedale in 2009 to work in the fields, then  bounced between the two communities following the harvest, police said in 2011.