PARLIER – One man is dead and another behind bars after a dispute between neighbors ended with gunfire.
On Friday around 3 p.m., officers with the Parlier Police Department and deputies with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office responded to 13551 7th Street in Parlier after receiving multiple calls reporting that a man was the victim of a shooting. Officers arriving on the scene discovered the victim, identified as 40-year-old Arthur Gomez, Jr., inside his residence at 13541 7th Street, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Gomez, a well-known local youth football coach, was taken to Community Regional Medical Center for emergency surgery, but later died from his injuries.
Several witnesses at the scene identified Gomez’s neighbor, 37-year-old Joel Valera, as the suspect in the shooting. During a search of Valera’s home – located at 13551 7th Street – officers discovered multiple firearms, including one believed to be the murder weapon. Valera was arrested on suspicion of murder.
An investigation into the incident revealed that the neighbors had become involved in a verbal disagreement in the front yards of their residences.
During the argument, “Valera produced a gun and fired more than once, striking Gomez several times. Gomez was shot as members of his family watched,” according to the sheriff’s department, which was requested by Parlier PD to handle the investigation. The sheriff’s department did not reveal what the disagreement was over or whether Valera and Gomez had previous issues with each other.
Neighbors told the media that Valera had only lived in the neighborhood for a matter of months and was rarely seen.
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