On the afternoon of December 16, 2025, 23-year-old Angel Ernesto Yee Mendoza was fatally shot after a series of shootings in a residential area of Indio, California. Officers first responded around 1:10 p.m. to reports of gunfire on the 47000 block of Dove Street; investigators say Mendoza had been involved in that initial incident though no victims were found there. He then drove a short distance to a home on the 47000 block of Bluejay Street, where a verbal confrontation with 41-year-old Gabriel Salazar escalated into an exchange of gunfire.

Mendoza was struck, retreated to his vehicle and became unresponsive. He was taken to a local hospital and later pronounced dead. Police recovered an unregistered handgun from Mendoza’s vehicle and found multiple spent casings at both the Dove Street and Bluejay Street scenes. Detectives opened a homicide investigation and located Gabriel Salazar in Coachella on December 20, 2025; he was booked on first-degree murder and weapons charges and was awaiting arraignment at the Larson Justice Center.

If anyone witnessed the incidents on Dove Street or Bluejay Street, or has information about what led to the shootings, please come forward.