Jorge Zavala, 34, was killed on June 8, 2015, at El Potrero Night Club in Arvin, California. He was one of two men fatally shot when Juan Pablo Vega opened fire that night; Federico Moreno was also killed and a third person survived gunshot wounds. Reports say the shooting was prompted after Vega’s girlfriend, Lourdes Olvera, urged him to confront and shoot men she said were bothering her.

Vega fled after the shooting and was captured months later by U.S. Marshals and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation personnel on Highway 58 near Cottonwood Road. The case experienced repeated delays, but eventually Vega pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder and received a sentence of 69 years to life in April 2024. Olvera’s 2016 murder trial ended in a hung jury; she later pleaded guilty to two counts of soliciting a murder and a charge of threatening a witness, was sentenced to 12 years, and has since been released.

Zavala’s widow, Liliana Martinez, addressed the court asking that Vega never be released and described the impact of his loss on her family. Does anyone have information about Jorge Zavala’s life in Arvin or recall the night at El Potrero Night Club?