Dec. 28 (UPI) — Law enforcement officials arrested a man suspected of fatally shooting a Central California police officer after a three-day manhunt, the Stanislaus County sheriff announced Friday.
Sheriff Adam Christianson said police arrested Gustavo Perez Arriaga, 32, in Bakersfield for allegedly killing Newman police Cpl. Ronil “Ron” Singh on Wednesday during a traffic stop. He faces a homicide charge.
Police also arrested two accomplices who allegedly assisted Arriaga after he fled the scene of the shooting — his brother, Adrian Virgen, 25, and a co-worker, Erik Razo Quiroz, 35. Both face charges of accessory after the fact to a felony.
“We had them in custody [Thursday] and asked for their cooperation and they lied to us,” Christianson said during a news conference Friday afternoon.
Christianson said Arriaga was en route to Mexico. On Thursday, authorities said Arriaga was in the country illegally.
President Donald Trump used the shooting and Arriaga’s status to push his immigration policies.
“There is right now a full scale manhunt going on in California for an illegal immigrant accused of shooting and killing a police officer during a traffic stop. Time to get tough on Border Security. Build the Wall!” he wrote in a tweet Thursday amid a government shutdown over border wall funding.
Singh, originally from Fiji, was survived by his wife, a 5-month-old son, his parents and a brother.
His was the first death in the line of duty in the Newman Police Department.
