Police make second arrest in gang-related shooting over the weekend
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The El Paso Police Department has made a second arrest in a shooting that left one man dead early Saturday morning. El Paso County jail records show 19 year-old Noah Lomeli was booked on a $1 million bond for the charge of murder on Tuesday. As ABC-7 reported, 19 year-old Damian Alexander De La Riva was arrested and charged the same earlier in the week for the murder of 24 year-old Omar Infante. Lomeli was named as a co-defendant by police in a complaint affidavit previously.
Both teens are accused of the murder following an apartment party and parking lot fight at the Gonzalez Place Apartments at 4101 Rich Beem Blvd. Police say Lomeli began arguing with Infante at the party about opposing gang affiliations, which led to a fistfight in the parking lot between the two. Witnesses say that Lomeli identified himself as a member of "6th Street," known to El Paso Police as a street gang.
According to the police complaint affidavit, witnesses then saw De La Riva run up to Infante and point a handgun at him. Lomeli allegedly also produced a handgun and a shot was heard on a video retrieved by police of the parking lot, and Infante was seen falling to the ground. Police report that the video shows De La Riva and Lomeli then repeatedly beating and pistol-whipping Infante on the ground and taking something from his torso before leaving the apartments in a red Nissan Altima.
Police documents detail that investigators used the description of Lomeli's vehicle and gang associations to positively identify him in connection to the crime. Police say that witnesses confirmed Lomeli and De La Riva as being at the apartments and involved in the crime by looking at previous booking photos of the two.
