Mateo Soriano, 19, of Merced was shot at a house party in the Beachwood area of Merced County on May 29, 2022. The party on Cowden and Bright drew more than 100 people when shots were fired; four people were hit. Soriano was critically injured, taken to a hospital, and later died of his wounds. Among the other victims was a 15-year-old girl who suffered severe injuries and is paralyzed from the waist down.

The Merced County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation and has said the party may have escalated after uninvited guests arrived. Few witnesses have come forward, which investigators say has hampered efforts to reconstruct what happened. No arrests have been announced in connection with Soriano’s death.

Soriano had previously been identified as the suspect in an August 2021 stabbing of a 16-year-old coworker at an OnTrac warehouse in Merced; that earlier incident involved a dispute over work equipment and the teen was flown to a trauma center. Anyone with information about the May 29 shooting is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office.