Man charged in fatal January shooting
WATSONVILLE >> The Santa Cruz County District Attorney's Office has filed murder charges against a 28-year-old machine operator in last month's Sunnyhills Road slaying.
Felipe Salas Jimenez, 28, of Watsonville, appeared for his first court hearing Thursday after Watsonville police took him into custody Monday. Watsonville police are linking Jimenez to the Jan. 22 fatal shooting of Armando Saldana, 39, of Watsonville. Investigators say Jimenez and Saldana were in an argument on the 200 block of Sunnyhills Road and that, shortly after 8 p.m., Jimenez shot Saldana. Family members drove Saldana to a hospital, where he died the next morning.
Saldana was Santa Cruz County's first homicide of 2023. Subsequently, 18-year-old Rowan Parham of Soquel was shot and killed at a Jan. 28 Boulder Creek party. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office booked a 16-year-old male teen into Juvenile Hall on charges related to Parham's death.
With the help of multiple search warrants, Watsonville police tracked Jimenez to San Jose before arresting him
Monday night. The
San Jose
Police Department,
Santa Cruz
County
Auto Theft
Reduction Enforcement Team, Santa Cruz County AntiCrime Team and Watsonville police Special Investigations Unit assisted in the case.
Jimenez is scheduled for a continued arraignment Feb. 22 on charges of murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm, along with enhancements related to his history as a felon. In 2015, Jimenez pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in a Capitola domestic violence case. He went on to violate his probation multiple times, though charges in one felony firearms case in 2017 out of Watsonville were dismissed subsequently.
Watsonville police are asking anyone with additional information on the case to call detective Juan Castillo at 831-7683358 or 831-889-8414.