Homicide suspect arrested

RICHMOND >> A 27-year-old man was in county jail after his weekend arrest as a suspect in the city’s seventh homicide of the year, authorities said Monday.

At 12:46 a.m. Saturday, police said they responded to a ShotSpotter report in the 200 block of Third Street followed by a 911 caller who said a person was down on the ground outside. When officers arrived, they found a man, later identified as Juan Carlos Valdovinos, 27, laying on a sidewalk and bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds.

Paramedics and Richmond firefighters also responded and tried emergency life-saving measures, but Valdovinos was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police detectives who responded soon found that Valdovinos and another man,

Jacinto Chavarria, had argued in a nearby parked vehicle shortly before Chavarria got out of the vehicle, produced a handgun and fired.

Around 9 p.m. Saturday, investigators searching for Chavarria found him sitting inside a parked car in the El Cerrito Plaza parking lot, and took him into custody without incident, police said.

Chavarria was arrested on suspicion of murder and was listed in Martinez county jail Monday morning without bail, according to a county records check Monday afternoon.

Detectives are planning to present a case for review to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office later this week, police said.

Anyone with information may call Richmond police Det. Jose Villalobos at 510-620-6541, e-mail jvillalobos@richmondpd.net or call the department’s anonymous tip line at 510-621-1212 ext. 1933.