2nd man arraigned in Hoopa homicide
19-year-old enters not guilty plea
Another suspect has been arrested and charged in the homicide of a Hoopa man whose body was discovered a month after he went missing this summer.
Daniel Armendariz, 19, was arrested and charged with one count of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder for the death of Julius Barthel Tripp, 42, on or about July 20. Armendariz pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Armendariz’s arrest followed the conclusion of the preliminary hearing for Bronson Lewis Jr., 18, who is also being charged with Tripp’s murder.
During the preliminary hearing, three teenagers testified that they were with Lewis and Armendariz the night Tripp was killed. Though none of them testified to directly seeing Lewis and Armendariz allegedly attack Tripp, they testified that the pair had left the truck and followed Tripp with first a long knife and later a firearm.
After leaving a party that night, the teenagers said they discovered a truck on the side of the road and decided to bump it with their truck, prompting Tripp to get out of his vehicle and throw a tire rim at their truck. At that point, the teens testified Lewis and Armendariz got out of the truck and into an altercation with Tripp.
Once Tripp began running away from them toward Hoopa, KLynn Dowd testified Armendariz came back to the truck and grabbed the knife that he handed over to Lewis. She later said Lewis said he used the knife, which she estimated as being about two feet long, to cut of Tripp’s hand.
When the pair returned, Dowd said Lewis talked about finishing off Tripp and the group went to Lewis’s relative’s house to grab a firearm. Upon doing so, Dowd said they returned to the spot where they left Tripp, and Armendariz and Lewis got out of the truck again, Lewis with the firearm in hand.
The teens said they heard shots fired, after which the two returned to the truck.
Armendariz’s preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 1.
Armendariz is currently being held at the Humboldt County jail on $1 million bond.